My Bells. Ella Bella. Ellsy. Bellsy. Ellie. Ellie Belly. Ella answers to them all. Seven years ago today, at this moment, I was laying in a hospital room about to get an epidural. I had been there for almost 24 hours and I was OVER labor. We checked in at 4 o'clock on Sunday afternoon and were scheduled for an induction the following morning. I wasn't thrilled about being induced on the fifth anniversary of a national tragedy, but I was already five days overdue and couldn't wait one more minute to see her face. We were restless in the hospital that night, not knowing how the day would play out or how our lives were about to change forever. The on-call doctor convinced me she would be born before morning, so I panicked and my parents and sister came to see us late that evening. I remember ...
ella
Giving Her Birthday Away
32 photographs. That's how many images it takes to tell the story of Bells' birthday. Of the 60 images my sister took, there were thirty-two that I couldn't NOT share. I know. I know I say this same thing every year and I'll probably say it at every birthday party, every year until my sweet girls grow up and move out. And after that, I'll probably say it about my grandbabies' birthdays. But this year, it might actually be true. This was the best birthday ever. I know I talked a little about it when I shared weekend links last week, but Ella came up with the idea of a "charity birthday" all on her own. It was back in the spring, long before we'd even talked about what to do for her party this year. I picked her up from Gran's house like any other Tuesday afternoon and she had a sparkle in ...
Recital Recap | Four Years
It's hard to believe my Elly-belly just completed her fourth year of dance. She was such a tiny little thing, just shy of three when she started. It's time consuming and expensive and she is exhausted so much of the time, but then I think about how much she's grown and how good she is and I see all of the friendships she's forming that won't have anything to do with school districts or neighborhoods. It is so good for her to be pushed and to step outside of her comfort zone and form relationships with people that she wouldn't otherwise get to know. I am so thankful for signing her up on a whim four summers ago. You can see previous dance recital recaps/photos here: 2012 | 2011 | 2010 ...
My Mommy Heart
Y'all, six years old is hard. Ella & I have had a bit of a hard year, but we're pressing on. I wrote a little bit about it back in October and I still feel like we are very much in this same place. I keep on praying that when we turn seven the switch will instantly flip and everything will be back to normal. I'm not sure if it's the age, or school, or responsibility or just me, but six years old seems to be full of sass and drama and one very strong will. I'm easily frustrated because she is such a precious child and I want to enjoy her at every age. It's hard to enjoy someone who is sullen and constantly frustrated with you for one thing or another, no matter how hard you want to. Part of the problem is that Ella and I are virtually the same person. We're emotionally charged, with a ...
Did I mention the girls rode a camel?
A few weeks ago, the girls had a birthday party at the zoo and I convinced my dad to tag along for the day. We have an amazing zoo, birthday parties there are fantastic AND you get a free day at the zoo out of the deal. First up, a photo with the birthday boy, James. Please ignore Ella's awkward face/smile. There is a lot of that in this post... she had a very loose tooth on the top that was moments away from falling out and she couldn't do much with her mouth. She's barely eaten, brushed her teeth or smiled, but was far too anxious to pull it. That is another story for another day! Part of the birthday experience at the Birmingham Zoo is getting to pet some animals. I don't remember what all we saw, but the girls did get to pet this snake and a ferret. Sophie wasn't shy at all! Next ...
The Mommy Wars
I am long overdue for posting pictures of our Easter. But, as I was uploading the photographs earlier this week, all I could think about was how our Easter baskets would be perceived by perfect strangers. Did we do enough? Did we do too much? How sad that those are the thoughts that ran through my head. I've been thinking a lot lately about the wars we wage on each other. In fact, I almost blogged about it several months ago, but convinced myself not to rock the boat. Sometimes when I'm laying in bed at night scrolling through social media sites, I have to shake my head when I see what we say about each other. Why are we, as mommies, so mean? I'm not pointing the finger, I'm guilty of it myself. We are constantly comparing ourselves and when we feel like we don't measure up, we turn on ...
My Dancer
Alternately titled, the post with 35 photographs. Yes, I counted. I've mentioned that Ella is on a competition dance team several times, but I've not gone into much detail about what that really means. I put Ella in a "tiny dancer" ballet/tap class at a local studio right before her third birthday. She was such a mature child and really in need of some organized extra-curricular activity. She loved it from the very beginning and danced with that same group of girls for three years. At the end of last season, her instructor mentioned that they would have a competition team this year for girls aged 6-8 and told us she had referred Ella for that class. At the time, we thought she would have to audition and decided to let her make that decision when the time came. Fortunately for us (and not ...
Around the house
After I found myself unexpectedly at home for the day on Monday, I decided to resist the urge to be lazy while Josh was working and try to accomplish a few things that were lurking on my to-do list. Our house hasn't been really cleaned since the holidays and I can always find an excuse to avoid those mundane tasks if at all possible. One of my favorite bloggers posts about her days sometimes and I wonder why I don't take "every day" photos like that anymore. Just pictures of what I'm doing instead of pictures of events. As Ella gets older and I question what to share publicly, this kind of blogging really speaks to me and I find myself gravitating towards that kind of sharing. When Josh caught me taking pictures as I worked, he laughed and started drafting a blog post out loud for me, ...