She did fine...

Ella did really well in her ultrasound! She smiled and cooed at the technicians and didn't cry until the last minute of the procedure... mostly because it was lunch time. So Friday I'll call her Orthopaedist and see if they received the results and make an apt to get her harness adjusted. And if all goes as planned, she will be able to go to wearing it just nights.
I left Anson at home with Auntie Megan...
By the way...
Dusty's sister Megan just moved up here to ATL and is living in one of our rental homes about a mile from our house! It is sooooooo nice to have her here! She is working for Dusty and helping me a lot with the kiddos! She is enjoying being on her own in the big city! Anson loves watching out the window for "Aunt Megan's white car" to come. He then runs to the back door, swings it wide open and yells, "Welcome home Megan!" at the top of his lungs! When she actually reaches the back porch, he says as he's reaching for her hand, "Come build castle!" He's really into mega blocks right now and Aunt Meg knows how to make the best castles!!
So Megan has allowed a little sanity to return to my days by helping me with my little charge. And it is so nice to have family close by again!
I honestly don't know how you girls do it... I'm talking to my sis Aly with 5 kids and Ranae with 4 now... God's grace and extra energy?
Til next time...

More Nap-time bliss

Yea! Today is the second day that Anson and Ella's naptimes lined up. I am going to try my hardest to make this an every day occurrence! Not much going on today... at about 7:15 I heard "Good Morning! EE awake!!" Anson still refers to himself as "EE" most of the time... we don't know where this came from but now it has become a sort-of nick name. When he does tell someone his real name is sounds more like "Ethan" than Anson so I still have to translate for him. Today he said , "Mommy, sing Holy". I asked him what he meant and he said, "You know, 'Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty..." - clear as day! He is now remembering song lyrics which means he can start memorizing! Well, now you know what we will be doing! How cool. Well, Dusty has the camera in Florida so no new pictures today! Dusty had to take one of his crews to the Tampa area to finish a job. He is really enjoying running the painting business and doing a great job!! What a guy! Most times he just sends the crews out but this job needed a little TLC. A funny story about that... A check came in the mail the other day and I said "Wow! Daddy's bringing home the bacon!" Dusty and I just laughed, not realizing Anson heard my comment. Later that day we were all four in the car heading out to dinner and Anson said, "Mommy, Daddy... EE growing up soon. EE bring home bacon too!" He doesn't miss a thing!
Be careful little mouths what you say!
Well, tomorrow is Ella's ultrasound. We'll keep you posted!

What an imagination!

Just a quick update with some funny tid-bits... mostly so I don't forget them myself. The other day Anson came out of his room with his Nemo cell phone wedged between his sholder and his ear... He was saying..."Yes... uh huh... oh, you have snow at your house too Aly?" He was "talking" to Auntie Aly! Just then he dropped the phone, picked it up and put it to his ear again and said "Oh man, I lost her"! What a funny kid! His imagination is really growing! Saturday he made a playdoh birthday cake with crayon candles! And I can see that he is beginning to think of other people too. Yesterday he told me he was picking up his blocks because it would make Daddy happy when he got home! It's a start!

And then there is his vocabulary... the other day, while enjoying a nutritious lunch of fish, tater tots and peas, he looked at me and said "Mommy, this is delicious!" What a big word! More of his favorite words these days are "anemone" (where Nemo lives), "Mississippi", where Daddy had to go last week, and "Tennessee", where Daddy had to go the week before! Dusty has had to go on a few trips recently to check on some jobs. We are lucky that his traveling weeks are few and far between and that he is home a lot! We miss Daddy when he's gone! Anson told me that he is "growing up soon to help Daddy work". Not too soon, little buddy!!

Ella is doing great! She goes for an ultrasound of her hip on the 31st and will then go to wearing her brace only at night! Yeah! She will be able to wear real clothes again and catch up on her development milestones of rolling over and sitting up, etc. She is such a sweetie! She smiles a lot and rarely cries. We are looking forward to her Baptism on March 9th at 10:30 AM at our church, The Church of the Apostles. (More info to come on that... You can actually watch it online in real-time!) At her 4 month check-up she weighed 14 lbs 10 oz! Big girl! I was curious how she compared to Anson at 4 months and he weighed a whopping 18 pounds!! I forgot just how big he was!

Well, I am enjoying a quiet moment while they both nap. Today their naptimes lined up perfectly while most days one is waking while the other is going down... we'll get there. They both sleep very well at night though. Ella is now sleeping from 7:30 to 7:30! What an angel!

I guess that's all for now...

Snow! Snow! Snow!

We had snow two days last week! Anson LOVED it! The first time it snowed, I could not get him to come inside! He instinctively knew how to make a snowball and throw it. It was fun for a couple days but I would not want to live in snow for months on end, that's for sure! It was pretty while it lasted!

Christmas and a New Year!

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We had so much fun in Florida visiting both grandparents and meeting Anson and Ella's new cousin Charlotte! Dusty's brother Jared and Brittany welcomed Charlotte Michelle on Nov. 18th and she is a cutie! Anson had so much fun and was so much fun to watch as he opened up presents and appreciated each one! He helped Ella open her presents too!

Ella had her four month appointment today! I can't believe that she is 4 months old already!! She now weighs 14 lbs 10 oz! She has been wearing her hip harness for 5 weeks now and has 1 week left of wearing it 24/7! It took her a few days to get used to it but after that she's been fine. She's a real trooper! Her orthopaedist says it was only a slight case of hip displaysia and that wearing the "Pavlik Harness" would cure her and she should have no ongoing problems. Next week she goes for the second ultrasound and after that she only has to wear the harness at night for another 6 weeks. That means she can actually wear real clothes again! I have had to dress her in onesies that she can wear under her harness and dresses that button that go over it. She could not wear any pants because then I couldn't change her diaper. It has been an ordeal but it's almost over and we're thankful for the outcome! She is such a sweet baby who smiles a lot and is beginning to laugh! She loves watching Anson! She can now hold toys and puts them right in her mouth. She also sucks her thumb which is quite cute! She only does it when she's tired or hungry.

Anson is communicating better everyday! He understands so much and doesn't forget a thing! Here is a great story... this happenned last week:

He has a little blue elephant that Gramma Camp gave him before he was born and he LOVES it. He sleeps with it, eats with it, and wants to take him everywhere! Well I finally gave in and let him bring elephant into Target with us. When we were getting back into the car I noticed we didn't have elephant! I asked Anson and of course he didn't remember dropping him. We searched the whole store and couldn't find him. Anson was about to cry because we couldn't leave the store without finding elephant! So we prayed that Jesus would help us find elephant. We then found a Target employee with a walkie-talkie who reported it as lost and asked all the employees to keep an eye out. Then we went home with no elephant.

Dusty and I tried to keep his mind off of losing elephant so we took him to the zoo that afternoon. He had the best time seeing all the animals! But, in the car on the way home I heard Anson saying something so I turned around and noticed he had his hands folded and his eyes closed... He was praying "Dear Gesus (that's how he says Jesus! how cute!) please help us find elephant. Amen." He prayed all on his own! After hearing that, Dusty took him back to Target to try lost and found one more time. They came home with a new ball but NO elephant. Anson prayed again at bedtime that night that "Gesus" would help us find elephant and went to bed missing his buddy.

Well, the next morning Anson asked if we could go to Target to find elephant so I took him for one last chance. (In the mean time I had called my Mom in Florida and had her look for another one where she had bought the first one, looked online etc... no luck) As we were leaving the car to go into the store, Anson prayed again, all on his own! We walked up to the customer service desk and asked if anyone turned in a little blue elephant. After a brief check in the back, the lady brought out his little blue elephant!!!!!!! Anson and I were so happy.. he hugged him and shouted,with his face looking up "There's elephant!! Thank you Gesus!" I told the clerk that he had been praying to find him and she was so touched. He never gave up hope and just knew that we would find him! What a lesson in faith from my own two-year-old! So just keep praying and believe! Jesus does hear our prayers no matter how petty they seem! If he cares enough find a little boy's elephant in Target, how much more does he care for "the big stuff'!

Well, here are some updated pictures. More stories soon...