BSM - Dandelion

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Enough Already...

Sick. not sick.
Sick. not sick.
Sick. not sick.

That's how it is. Ella has been sick for countless months now on and off. She got a regular old cold a few months ago and then it turned into a chest thingy with a cough where the doctor ended up prescribing an inhaler because the cough never went away.


But the last 3 weeks have been so weird....I am not kidding. One week, she got sick, was throwing up and had a fever. That was quite an experience. This was the first time she has puked as a toddler and I don't think she knew what to do. Seriously, she didn't know whether she should keep her hands over her mouth, where to let it land once it came out or if she should swallow it. **Yuck, I know** I was in such a deep sleep when she woke me up that I didn't know what the hell was going on. I just kept saying, "Let it come out..in the toilet!" That lasted 2-3 days. Then she was better. It wiped her out so much that she fell asleep on the coach within 45 minutes of waking up the next morning. Ella was never one of those kids to fall asleep wherever unless she was in a bed. It was SUPER weird that she did that.


The next week after being fine for the last 4 days or so, all of a sudden she came down with a fever that went up to 103.5 degrees. To me, that is high and I was freaking out! It started around 2pm and every few hours we gave her Tylenol and was putting her in a cold shower. Her temp would go down to around 100 degrees and then spike back up. This happened all night long. We took 4 showers that night (and I mean from midnight to 6am). Keith thought that since the shower was breaking her fever that we were ok and just needed to let it pass. I brought her into the doctors the next day and the doctor said the same thing. That lasted 2-3 days. Then she was better.


Now, she is just coming off another cold. When I came home from work on Tuesday, my Mom said Ella was warm, had been coughing all day and kept having blowouts from her nose every time she sneezed. Lots of Care Bear and My Little Pony movies later and she is starting to feel better.

My friend had a baby a couple of weeks ago. We have been trying to get together on Wednesday for the last 3 weeks! Every week, Ella gets sick and we don't want to bring her near little V. so we reschedule for the next Wednesday. Fingers crossed that next week works! :0)

I think it was on the first bought of sickness, we got a wonderful surprise in the mail. I had asked Jen at New Green Mama to make me one of her awesome owls, but then I saw this bunny and thought, "I must have the bunny!" Thankfully, Jen asked me if I wanted the bunny instead of the owl. I must have sounded too excited in the comment I made about the bunny. :0) I didn't know she had even mailed it at this point, so when it came that day it was the most perfect thing Ella could have seen considering the way she felt.


After I took a few pictures of her with her new bunny, I started picking up the house a little. About 20 minutes later I looked over at her and she was again, asleep on the couch. It was absolutely the cutest thing. She was so wiped that she just closed her eyes and was out. I just stared at her.

Thank you so much Jen for the bunny. It really was just what we needed that day. :0)

I'm done venting....
Hoping for healthy summer days ahead.

WW - The Beehive

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Best Shot Monday

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Your Highness.....

Funny how the lines between reality and fantasy can sometimes be blured....


Me: "C'mon sweetie, hurry up and get out of the car."
Ella: "Mama, I'm going as fast as I can. Its hard being a princess sometimes."

WW - 'Tis the Season

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BSM - Light At The End Of The Tunnel

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Budding Pen Pals....

What a bright and beautiful way to start the day! This painting is from the talented and adorable Nadia, the star of Momology.

It says, "To Ella, From Nadia: This is a picture of a clown to make you laugh."

Ella's always one to play along! She immediately got down on the floor and started laughing as she rolled back and forth.
After that, it took all I had to get her to sit down and let me take a picture of her with the painting. As I told Christina, she wanted me to fetch her watercolors right away so that she could start making something for Nadia.

It's on its way! :0)

WW - Close To Nature

We went for a walk on Mother's Day and sat with these beautiful creatures.







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BSM - Happiness, Love and Simplicity

It hasn't felt like that so much recently. For some reason I have been very irritable lately. Maybe it's the stress of me working extra hours, Keith working extra hours, the construction going on everyday at my house, or Ella going through a stage of sassy disobedience that seems like it will never end. I have no idea. But it is definitely a slump I need to get out of.

Mother's Day was perfect though. I was so happy. Every second of the day...I was happy. It has been so long since I truly lived in the moment. I didn't care what had happened the hour before or what was happening the hour after. It wasnt complicated. I didnt have 10 different things on my mind that I needed to get done. I laughed with Ella all day instead of disciplining her. Everything she did I thought was amazing...as if I had never seen it before. I was clear and refreshed. Keith and I joked around instead of being angry with each other. I had so much gratitude for where I am in life and who I have in my life.

I felt HAPPY. I felt LOVED. It was SIMPLE.


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Happy Mothers Day!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Mothers Day. My Mom and I went and got a manicure and pedicure this morning. It was wonderful. Ella woke me up with a kiss and a card. This is how our conversation went:

Me: Thank you for making me a Mommy. (as I bopped her on her cute little nose with my finger)

Ella: Thank you for making me an Ella. (as she bopped me on my nose with her little finger)

My friend Stacy just became a first time Mommy on April 17th to little Victoria Lyn. I cant even explain to you how perfect Victoria's skin was. This photo was taken in the hospital LESS than 24 hours after she was born. Her skin coloring was perfect! It blew me away. No signs of trauma from birth at all. She came out a perfect little girl.

I dedicate this Mother's Day to my friend Stacy and sweet little V! :0)

The Concert

Tuesday night I went to the Elton John/Billy Joel concert with my Mom. I had been waiting for this concert for months and was so excited to go. They did not disappoint either! Initially, I was really excited to see Elton John more than Billy Joel. Though I love their music both the same, Elton John is just more iconic. Never the less, I was thrilled when I heard they were coming back in concert together again. I thought for sure the one time they had done it before would be it....and I never went to one of those concerts.

So right when the tickets went on sale one Saturday morning back in January, I was online and ready to purchase....I was willing to pay any price!

One thing that started the concert out right was that they were on time! I have been to so many concerts where they start at least a half hour late. I saw Prince in concert and he was 1.5 hours late. I was pissed. Not this time. It was so great we only had to sit there 10 minutes before they came on stage. When they came out, they sat down and played a few songs together.


We had FANTASTIC seats! We were just diagonal to the stage. Had we been anymore to the side of the stage, our seats would have been obstructed. Had we been anymore head on to the stage we would have been further away. They were perfect.



I had gone to the Celine Dion concert back in January and did not bring my camera because I thought it would get confiscated at the door and I was not willing to take the chance of parting with it. Man was I upset when they barely even checked my big huge Mama size bag. And then of course every single person in the stadium had a camera and I was jonesing. So for this concert, I was taking my camera. As we got to the security doors, the guy scanned my bag slightly but also felt the bottom of it and asked if I had any small children or ex-husbands in there! It was kinda weighty. I held my big mama bag close as I smiled and replied, "Nope."



So as I said before, I was more excited to see Elton John than Billy Joel. After they played a few songs together, Billy left the stage and Elton played his part. Of course it was excellent. He could have cut back on making every song an instrumental at the end, but regardless, it was awesome to see him play.

But let me tell you....Billy Joel was much more of a performer than I had expected. Elton John is excellent. Let me get that out in the open right away. But Elton only performed while sitting at his piano then stood up to wave and say thank you between songs. Billy played at the piano and then the piano went away and he danced and sang with a guitar or microphone. He also talked to the audience and made jokes. He was fantastic.


Look at the creepy guy just below Billy Joel of this shot below.....




After they each played on their own, they played together again for the encores. It was just so great to get to see two of my favorite performers in concert together. Every song you knew and every song was a favorite. It was a wonderful 3.5 hours (with no intermission) concert that was totally worth the money.

I got a kick out of this photo and just had to post it. What is going on in the bottom left corner? It just looks so out of placed and almost Photoshoped. I swear that is how the photo came out though. So wierd!

WW - Our Best Collaboration

Today is our 9 year wedding anniversary. Sorry, no pictures of us....just our best collaboration....






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BSM - Success

After all of Ella's hard work, she saw success!


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