Ella's first cold:)

A lot has happened since I was an avid blogger, but my goal now is to just catch up. I will hit the high points and skim the low ones when I can, and when I remember them:)

My baby girl got her first cold last week. She had a little bit of a dry cough. It was so minor that we actually thought she had just learned how to do it, so she was amusing herself. Then came the runny nose. Again, it's one of those things that was probably harder on me than it was on her. I called her doctor every other day until they told me to just come in. The nurse said, "I"m sure she's fine, but you sound concerned, so why don't you come in..." Yep, I'm on my way.

I worked from home on Tuesday so I could stay with her, then Kyle stayed with her on Wednesday and Thursday, and then we split Friday. That allowed her to stay home with the humidifier for 24 hours a day and not go to school. We did that and suctioned her nose out as needed, along with giving her saline nose drops as needed. She went back to school this past Monday, then stayed at home with Kyle Tuesday and Wednesday because he was off those days. She seems like she is almost back to normal, but it's been a rather sleepless experience for me. She's been totally fine. We have to wake her up in the morning because she wants to sleep in, but I wake up every hour just to check on her. Like I said - probably harder on her than it is on me.

Her first sick day:(

Love from the Easter Bunny:)

We took Ella to Fort Payne for Easter, which was also her first trip to FP. We spent one night at my parents's house and one night at Kyle's parents' house. The Easter Bunny visited Ella at both houses! She got the all-important diapers, as well as a mermaid beach towel with her name on it, personalized sand pail with goodies and two baskets full of fun stuff like books, toys, bath toys, bibs and her first camouflage, ruffled onesie (courtesy of Aunt Allie).

We also went to church, which is the same church Kyle and I were married in. She was an excellent baby. She slept the entire time. I passed her off to Granna during the service, though, because my child is like her mother - she gives off more body heat than she knows what to do with. I was SWEAT-ING. She is sooo hot. But other than that, she was the perfect baby.

We then went and had her first Easter egg hunt. She found all of the eggs all by herself, including the prize egg!

All in all, I would say that Ella is a very, very lucky girl:)

Our sweet family before church

Longest 8 hours of my life...

I'm an awful blogger. I know. I can't even begin to tell you how much is going on right now, largely because I'm not ready to, but just know that I have an amazing excuse. No, I'm not pregnant again, and no, I have no immediate plans for departure from anywhere (work, Atlanta, this life, etc.) So I ask forgiveness, and with that, we're moving on. Additionally, I started this post the last week of April. Today is May 26. I don't know if it will show today's date or the date I started this draft as the actual post date. But I wanted to be honest and let you know that you're going to see a few posts in a row. A girl's gotta do what a girl's got time to do. Now the topic of this post...

Ella has started "school." I actually started back to work on April 20, but my mom and Kyle's mom (her Gigi and Granna) stayed with us and took care of her the first week. That way, I wouldn't have to jump in all at once. Those days were long, and yes I cried all night Tuesday and all day Wednesday, but because I knew she was home with people she knew, I didn't worry as much.

But her first day - good grief. I couldn't bring myself to tell her "bye" that morning. Every time I looked at her, I cried. Luckily, I'm swamped with work, so I don't have time to sit and sob. But, my heart hurts every minute of the day. Before Ella, our group worked 9ish-6ish. It was usually more like 6:30 and sometimes later when we left, but I can't do that anymore. School closes at 6:30, and it's $1 per minute that you are late after that. Plus, school is in Kennesaw, which is closer to our house. So I've shifted to being 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. most days. There are some days when Kyle can pick her up, but our regular routine is that he drops her off and I pick her up. The days where I have to drop her off...well...let's not think about that right now:)

The fact that school is in Kennesaw means I've got one heck of a commute to pick her up. It took me an hour and 20 minutes yesterday to get there from work. Atlanta traffic...thorn in my side. I left work at 5 p.m. and pulled in at 6:20 p.m. It's only 25 miles, but if you don't live here, then you won't understand.

When I walked in her room, she was in her crib, entertaining herself with her mobile. The teacher had just fed her and changed her and put her down, and she was having a big time all on her own. I grabbed her up before she could render who I was. Seeing her so happy made me feel better. It is true...school is much harder on the parents than on the kiddos.