Birthday Surprise

My bday was a few weeks ago on April 3rd. This year I turned 31. Last year's birthday, was of course the big 3-0. Heath threw me a fun party last year with some friends.

But turning 31 isn't quite as big of a deal. However, I remember last year when I was turning 30, I was on the phone with my cousin Matt, who lives in NYC, and he told me it was actually harder for him to turn 31 than 30. I asked him why, and he said it was because now he is actually IN his 30's not just 30. It was funny to me, but actually proved itself to be a little true, which makes me laugh.

Anyway, so my birthday plans were to have a nice dinner with my family. It was a great evening at one of our favorite Italian restaurants nearby.

After dinner, Heath surprised me with a VERY sweet and thoughtful gift.

This gift couldn't be wrapped, so he wrote a song about the gift that him and his sister performed for me. Here are the words:
(Sung to the tune of "Piano Man" by Billy Joel)

Play me a song You're the Piano Jan
Yea, play a song for me.
Oh wait, you can't cause your piano
Jan is horribly out of key.

Now Dave Conte ain't no friend o' mine
and he don't do nothin' for free.
But that man has one melodic ear
and he'll bring back that sweet melody.

I want you to practice for Sunday morn
on a piano made for a queen.
But you'll have to wait till Thursday night babe
when ol' Davies work is complete.

That's right my duck we've all thrown in a buck
to get your piano in tune.
I'll sit not far with my guitar
and we'll both be jamming real soon.

I was so thrilled. See I've had this piano since before I can remember. My first memory of it was taking my first piano lessons on it from my Aunt Sandy when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I'm not sure how long my parents had it before then.

Throughout my school years and college, my piano of course stayed at my parent's house. Then when I got married, Heath and I never had a place large enough for it. So it has been passed around from my parent's house to Heath's mom's house and was actually in storage for a while as well.

Heath and I just moved to a new house the weekend before my birthday and we LOVE it. In our new house we have a beautiful dining room with a gorgeous picture window that my piano fits perfectly in front of. So I have my piano back and am thrilled.

As you can imagine, it's pretty out of tune after years of sitting and being moved around. So my husband surprised me for my birthday with hiring a man named Dave to come tune it.

This made me fall more in love with Heath because we had not talked at all about how my piano is so out of tune. I just assumed that was an expense that we were just not ready to take on, so I never mentioned even the possibility to him of us getting it tuned. It made it even more special because he knew that in my heart that is something that would mean so much to me. And my sweet family was so happy to jump on board and all help get this accomplished.

And to top it off, they threw in a new FLIP VIDEO!!!!

Y'all are amazing. Thank you so much!! Everytime I sit at my piano, I will remember how sweet and thoughtful y'all are.

Ella at the Doctor

Yesterday was Ella's 4 year check up. Going into this appointment I knew she was going to have to get 3 or 4 shots, so I was a little stressed.

I bought Ella a new My Little Pony (Rainbow Dash to be specific) weeks ago in anticipation for this day. I had it there ready to pull out as soon as the nurse was done with the shots.

I made sure to make the appointment so Heath could go with me. I have an amazing husband. He has a way with Ella that I just don't have. He is so good with her and can be her constant entertainment.

Here is an example of this. I took this video of Heath keeping Ella distracted while the nurse went to get her shots ready. We had already told her at this point what was about to happen because we didn't want to totally catch her off guard. She had started to cry a little when we were telling her, but immediately her Daddy started with the distractions and had her rolling with laughter.

A little history so you understand what "pink" is. Last week, Heath, Ella and I went to Garden Ridge to shop for some stuff for our new home. While there, Ella stuck her finger in one of the holes that are in the sides of the metal shelves they have there. It got stuck and when she yanked it out, she sliced it open. It bled pretty bad and she was just traumatized.

Heath, in an effort to calm her down, asked her, "Ella, I want you to imagine something in your mind." After some hesitation she said, "pink". (Of course.) I think that girl dreams about pink. Anyway, so he asked her what does the pink look like that's in your head. She said "fluffy". So Heath created an imaginary ball of "pink". We keep pink in our pockets and when Ella gets hurt we can pull pink out and play with pink. You'll understand better when you watch the video.



And that's why Ella's Daddy needed to be there. I am so thankful that God gave me such a creative man. It comes in very handy.

Ella did very well with the shots. Of course, there was screaming and crying while the actual shots were going in, but she recovered very well. She kept saying through her tears, "I didn't want them to give me a shot". So heartbreaking.

Ella weighs 28lbs. She is still in the 3%-5% for weight. She's always been our little squirt (which is what the doctor in the hospital called her since she was only 4lbs 10 ounces). The doctor said if she was below 3% they would worry or if being in the 3% wasn't normal they would worry. But since she's always been teeny tiny it's not an issue.

She is 3ft 3 inches tall. So she's in the 50% for height, which makes her look even skinnier.

Overall a very good appointment.

Here are some pics of Heath keeping Ella entertained.

School Project

Ella LOVES her preschool. And we love her preschool. I'm so sad that they only have a few weeks left until the end of the year.

She always comes home with some type of fun project or art work they did that day. I thought today's project was especially cute.

FBC Irving Youth Camp!!

I'm taking a little break from my infertility posts (which I have so enjoyed getting out there and hearing from y'all) to post some pictures of my sweet girl. I have several catch up posts to do, so I am going to try to get through them quickly.

The first catch up post is about camp!

Last month, Heath, Ella & I got to go to our church's youth camp. We have had our student camp during spring break the past couple of years instead of during the summer.

I was excited about this week for several reasons: 1) I love going to youth camps! I love getting to see the students & adults grow and encounter God. 2) My whole family was going. 3) Curtis Jones was our camp speaker which meant I got to spend the week with Amanda, Jackson & Annabeth!

This particular camp holds a TON of sweet memories for me.

Heath and I went to this camp in Lindale, TX with our youth 5 years ago. We were both camp counselors. It was at that camp that Amanda told me she was pregnant with Jackson. I was so excited for her. I'll never forget our conversation and the exact motel room we were in on the camp campus because as she was telling me about her pregnancy symptoms and in my head I was screaming "OH MY GOSH...I am having every one of these symptoms." I just thought I was really tired from a week of constant activity at camp. I didn't tell Amanda this at the time because I was FREAKING OUT. But I ran to find Heath and told him I thought I might be pregnant. (Remember we were not trying to get pregnant.) He thought I was absolutely ridiculous.

The day we got home, I went to Walmart, bought a pregnancy test, and 3 minutes later my paranoia was confirmed. We were so excited!

So that was year one at camp.

The very next year in '06 we went back. This time with a 4 month old baby girl! Heath and I got to stay in the motel since I was doing more of an assistant role this year than camp counselor. Also, in the motel rooms were Amanda, Curtis & Jackson (also 4 months old), Peter, Melissa & Joshua (1 month old) and Krystal who was newly pregnant with Karoline and terribly ill. Krystal spent a lot of her time laying in my bed holding a sleeping Ella on her chest while she rested. Thanks again Krystal!

I have such amazing memories of being there with all our babies. Precious memories that I will hold onto for life.

We hadn't been to camp since '06, so I was pumped when it worked for us to all go again his year. It was really fun taking Ella as a 4 year old. And the greatest thing is that we were ALL there again. Curtis, Amanda, Jackson & Annabeth. AND Peter, Melissa, Joshua & Gabe. It was awesome to remember how tiny they were the last time we were all there and to be back with them all there as 4 year olds was a dream.

Ella had the best time with Joshua & Jackson! I would have lost 20 pounds if I had run as much as they did those few days. And my stomach muscles would be rock hard if I laughed as much as they did.



Ella participated in a lot of what the campers participated in. She was everyone's camp kid for the week. The students were so sweet to her, especially the pink team who dressed her up with all kinds of fun, girly, pink stuff.


Heath was the emcee for the week! And he was hilarious!! I love when Heath is in his element...being in front of people and being funny. He has such a gift.


Heath used Ella sometimes to help deliver the news of which team got the clean cabin/spirit award each day.


Heath handing out the spirit stick.


Late Night activities each night had a theme with them.
The first night was "Fan Night" You were actually supposed to dress up as a fan of your favorite sport's team. Heath took it a little too literally. :-)


The second night was neon night.


The third night was super hero night. I didn't get a picture of Heath but it involved a pair of whitey tighteys over a pair of pants.

The fourth night was grandparents night.






Ella was the camp cheerleader for the week.










Extra spirit points: The pink team got to Heath with their pink heart.




Running with Joshua


Ella loved to ride on the back of Josh's bike.


This was right when Jackson and Ella saw each other for the first time. They were very excited and immediately started running.






We played a lot of sports.




Football: Great catch Hubs!


Soccer


Ring Around the Rosies




The Billups got to come out and hang out with us for a couple of days. Sweet Karoline! Her mommy was pregnant with her the last time we all were at camp together.


They thought it was the most fun thing ever to play on the top bunk in our motel room.




Walking to get snow cones! Yum!










Daddy and Daughter time in the canoe.




They stayed out for almost an hour this day. Heath said they had a great bonding time. They talked and went turtle hunting. He is such a good daddy to his little girl.


This was the view from my room. I loved opening my blinds every morning to this.


Hanging out at night with all our motel doors open and the kids running around was one of my favorite times of each day.


Worship Service

The nightly worship services were incredible!! I am SO thankful that Ella was so good and let me sit with her through each service so I didn't have to miss one of my favorite bands (The Galvan Band) leading us in song and one of my favorite speakers (Curtis) teaching us from the Word! I can not say enough good things about the worship services. Both the students and adults grew that week.





It was a great week! Spent with amazing friends. Being blessed by the students and counselors who did a phenomenal job! I would do it again tomorrow.