Sweet Peace.

Matt and I are turning over a new leaf! We are really getting going on organizing the house. I even mowed the lawn today....I know...it's truly amazing!

We have started a night time routine which is bringing so much more peace to our lives. We turn off the TV at 10:00pm, have family scriptures and prayers and then have more time to talk together before we fall asleep.

I am also really enjoying my time with Ella. Each afternoon after Ella's 1 o'clock nap we have music and reading time together where we sing songs with actions, read books together and play together with her toys. It has been SO FUN!!!

I am such a stresser in general and I have really been working on that. I am surrounding myself with positive and supportive people, letting go of some unnecessary stress and letting go of being a "fixer" of other people's problems and just being happy with my own family. It is so nice to get to a point in my life when I am able to really relax. That is what I love about getting older...the increased awareness of what is important and what relationships are really about. In letting go of some of the negetive forces in my world I am now doing so many things that I truly love. In the past 2 days I have scrapbooked 10 layouts and I am thrilled with them.

My mom, Kezia and I are having our fun family SWIM activities and we are all inviting our friends to come too so we can share the stress free love! WHAT FUN! I am so HAPPY!

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Emergency Room Fun...but not really.

We went to the ER last night with another gall bladder attack. We were there from 10:00pm last night until 6:30 am this morning and guess what??? They didn't take my Gall Bladder OUT!!! Ahhhh.....the suffering continues. There isn't really a plan, they just gave me pain meds. So lame!

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She's on her way!

When Ella crawled, she took her sweet time, spending weeks rocking on her hands and knees and fooling us into thinking she was going to crawl at any moment. And then one day, she made her decision and off she went in a blaze of glory from wobbly crawl one day to speedy crawling madness the next.

Now, again, she has been taking tentative steps since her 1st birthday (February 26) but really preferred crawling since it was easier and safer. We've bribed her and called to her and held out our arms for hours....to no avail. Well, this past Wednesday, out of blue she decided that walking might be better and she was off like a rocket! Walking all around without ever falling and without hesitation. She got so good at it so quickly. We visited my Mom last week and Ella was all crawling and wouldn't take ANY steps. We visited her today, one week later, and there is NO crawling at all. She's getting quite fast and can even stand up herself when she falls. We were all amazed....she's a pro!

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Help! Save ME!!!

Ella has become quite a monkey. We have our washer and drier in our basement, which is also where our den is where Ella and I spend most of our time during the day. We have an area all roped off so she can't escape (who needs expensive children's gates when there are moving boxes and laundry baskets?). The den area is probably 10 feet from the washer/drier. Last week I go to switch a load from washer to drier and Ella is playing happily on the floor. Literally 12 seconds later I turn around to see her hanging off of the back of our couch, holding her own body weight with her arms. It was one of those slow-mo moments in life where I was screaming "Hang ON!!! Don't let go!!!!!" and hopping over furniture to get to her before she can't hang on any more. This is getting serious.

My days of sitting this kid in her Boppy for 2 hours while I do house work are OVER!!! We are to 24/7 watching her like a hawk or she may be falling off of couches or swallowing poison. Sigh! They're so cute when they're little and immobile!

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Gall Bladder FUN!

This past week has been gall bladder-riffic! I have had 4 attacks so I got an ultrasound and they said the GB is full of stones and has got to come out. Well, we call to schedule the operation and they say the soonest we could get a consultation with a physician is the 19th and THEN we would schedule the operation....not happening! I have decided to wait until the next attack, go to the ER and get it yanked that same day. Now I just have to eat lots of fat and sugar to spawn another attack....hmmmmm........that shouldn't be too hard!

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