My One Year Old...

So last Sunday, September 13th, Ellery turned one wow, I still can't believe it, yet it seems like "that's it?" I feel like she's been here forever! I love my baby girl and I'm so happy she is so happy! At one year of age Ellery is:

Weight: 17 lbs. 1 oz.
Height: 26.5 in.

-Practically sitting all by herself

-She makes a gurgle/purr noise when she's happy and playing

-Gives the biggest smiles and laughs silently, but if you get noise out of her it's like extra points!

-When laying on her back she kicks so fast and hard, it's like an excited dog wagging it's tail...I love it!

-She has four teeth all on the bottom

-She LOVES balls larger than herself and she makes the cutest turtle-like face when she grabs at it!

-Her favorite noise is Daddy's duck impression

-If you are holding her, just expect her to grab your whole face, this is how she says hi

-She will hold still when I go in for a kiss, she doesn't pucker, but she thinks she is!








This was her on her actual birthday all ready for church...



Grandpa gave her an oreo at her party, which is not on the "ok for ellery to eat" list, but Caleb was right there and apparently she wasn't going to give it back! According to Caleb she was all about this oreo and she ate it pretty quick! Apparently she is getting better with the solid food! So on Sunday we treated her to another one and I think she enjoyed it!

The LadyBug Birthday!

So to celebrate Ellery's turing one, we decided to have a ladybug themed party! I have been looking forward to this for a very long time, it was to celebrate more than just that she's now one, it was to celebrate all she's accomplished in that first year...a whole lot! Ellery has come a long way and this was something fun to end such an eventful year!
I made her little tutu and wings, not perfect but I had fun and it was only like 5 bucks to make both!

We served a small dinner of hot dogs and a lot of finger foods and salads...thanks mom and kim! I decorated the table cloths with oreos to be "spots".



This was my first attempt at fondant and I really enjoyed making these cakes! I made the fondant out of marshmallows and powdered sugar, messy but actually very easy and it tastes good! However, coloring it red and black was a challenging task involving a lot of food coloring, kneading and stained hands. I cooked the chocolate cake (two mixes) in a large metal bowl on a lower tempurature for a longer time...took 3 hours to cook to the center! It was yummy and moist to perfection!



We had the party at my mom's house with mostly just immediate famliy invited since that alone is a big crowd.



Ellery has a lot of cousins so we had to play a few games including pin the spot on the ladybug! If you got your spot on the wings, you got a prize! My very talented mom put together this ladybug...isn't she cute?!



We played a game just like a cake walk, but with leaves and the kids had their own pipe cleaner antanae on so they were the ladybugs flying around until the music stopped and if their leaf number was called out, they won a prize!



I also had them decorate their own cupcakes to look like ladybugs, but I forgot to make a sample and I never got a picture of the completed cupcake so sorry! But they were super fun!



Side Note: I had purchased live ladybugs online at homedepot and I wanted to put a few into some re-designed baby food jars as the party favors. Well, I ordered them on Thursday a week before the party because they had implied that such an order wouldn't be shipped until Monday so I was thinking I would get them two days before the party. However, the very next day after ordering a half-pint of these bugs, they arrived on my doorstep a week before the party! Ahh, how do I keep them alive that long? Apparently, you are supposed to keep them in the fridge till ready to release them...weird, but okay so that is what I did. Online it said they can last a couple weeks in their sleeping. So, the night before the party Caleb dumped them into the jars, but the lids holes he poked were really tiny and only 4. It was a little late to fix it and in the end the ladybug mortality rate was high. Poor kids had 75% dead ladybugs in them...oh well. We ended up just releasing them all that night instead of the kids taking them home. Learn from my mistake, order ladybugs later and poke more, larger holes.

So we have been working on Ellery sitting up because I wanted her to be able to sit and open her gifts, well I still sat behind her to help, but she didn't need much, she went to town on those presents! She is very curious now and grabs at everything so it worked out to her advantage here, because she ripped and pulled each gift wrapping very quickly, she's a natural! She got the jack pot on books, toys and clothes! Our three favorite things, thanks everyone!!







So then came cake time, another task we have been working towards, Ellery feeding herself and also being able to handle chewing and swallowing cake safely. We practiced with bread the whole week before and about 2 weeks before she stared to pick up little snacks and put them in her mouth! So just in time, still I wasn't sure what she would do if I put a cake in front of her, I had an idea though and I was right...

First she stares at it...



Then tastes it...



Then dives right in...



Rubs it all over her head...



And enjoys every second of it!



So I think it is safe to say that Ellery had a great party and a great time! I'm so glad it went well and grateful to all who came, it wouldn't have been a party with out you! I wish others could have been there, out of towners and busy peeps, you were missed. It was a grand celebration and an opening to a new chapter in Ellery's life! One full of growing, learning and playing!



This was the next day Ellery playing in her new jumperoo, she seems to like it!

Summer Fun!

So we have been super busy this summer, with hardly any doctor appointments and no sick days, we have been making up for lost times with a whole lot of playing! Ellery has really taken off with wanting to play and learn, she is hungry for everything, including food! Look at those big brown eyes! Right now Ellery is a master at eating her baby food she downs a 4 oz. jar in minutes three times a day and she loves to snack on puffs and yogurt melts. She is drinking the best from a regular open cup, but it's only in sips so her volume is just not enough. Her therapist explained to me that her motor skills need to improve and as she sits all by herself and starts to crawl and such then she will be better skilled at holding the cup and drinking more. So we continue to pump in her milk and focus on her physical improvement.




Also, Ellery has had her helmet now for almost 2 months and we think it is helping. She just recently had her head re-measured and there is improvement. The Doc estimates about 2-3 more months before her head is near perfect! I have had fun trying to find ways to make her helmet cute and stylish, I made all these flowers, too bad she still pulls them off all the time and rips them up, but sometimes she doesn't find them and they look darling!





This is random, but her bum was sooooooo sore the first two weeks after her stomach surgery and she spent those two weeks like this...I just think it's cute!



So to sum up the last month and a half we have been doing a lot of camping...








Lots of Swimming...







Partying with the Cousins,

AZ Science Center






Jungle Jims




These are cupcakes, yum!






I now have four teeth on the bottom, but this is when my third tooth popped up!




Ellery is going to be one on Sept. 13th can you believe it! I have been awaiting this day for what feels like a very very long time! I always just told myself, by the time she's one this will all be over. Now she is almost one and all the really hard stuff is over, but I'm still sad that she's getting big, happy too though. She is an amazing baby and she still keeps suprising me with how tough she is. I love this girl!

So how did it go?

This is the most asked question since my last post and I finally now have the chance to let you all know how Miss Ellie is doing since her latest surgery.

So I always have a hard time passing off this face to surgery, but come on! She was making it extra hard this time...look at this little squirt!!




When I told her it was time to go and that she needed to be brave she gave this face like "bring it mom, I can handle it"...what a tough cookie



I always hate going back through my pics and video because so much time passed in between these two moments of before surgery and after, but it is always so day and night here. Like I said it took an hour and a half just for the IV. They said the whole procedure would take about 2 and a half hours, so because of that they were way behind. She went in at 1:00 p.m. and I didn't see her until about 6:30 p.m.! It was way drawn out and I was really anxious the whole time. Usually we go in so early for surgeries that I end up sleeping while we wait, this time I wasn't tired at all so it was really hard to just sit there and think.




So it was definitely different going to Phoenix Children's Hospital over St. Joes. I would say that it was uncomfortable and inconvenient for me, but so much better for Ellery. We did have to share a room though with another family, but it wasn't too bad for the short while we were there, Monday through Saturday. This was all the space we had, very cozy. At St. Joes we had our own private room, with walking space and our own bathroom, this one I had to leave the room and go down the hall. I had to hold it until Ellery was asleep in order to feel okay leaving her.
Also at St. Joe's we could order up food, not at PCH, so Caleb had to stock me up with bread, peanut butter and bananas.



They put this HUGE NG tube down Ellery's nose to suck out stuff from her tummy to make it easier for her bowels to start working again, I felt bad because I promised Ellery she wouldn't ever have one again, she even pulled hers out in the car on the way to the hospital, so she was excited! Anyway, she was two-face for a while with the monster tape job that was needed to keep this sucker in...plus the head IV




Recovery was okay, Ellery slept most of the time the first two days, they wouldn't feed her anything until something came out of her bum to indicate that her bowels were functioning properly. F.Y.I what they did in the surgery was a 3-in-1 deal. First, the doc had to remove part of Ellery's large intestine that was super narrow that nothing would make it through if we tried, we think it was infected back in novemeber, remember those days? It was actually the entire right side of her collon and then she also took out her apendix, it was in the way.
Next, she removed Ellery's belly button hernia, not sure if anyone can recall Ellery's very large outie, well it is gone!
And last, the surgeon put in a Mic-Key Button, a port to Ellery's stomach. They stitched her up and this is what she came back looking like...Caleb and I call it her little C-Section...



Throughout those days we had some good moments...



And then some bad moments...



Luckily, Thanks to my bro Todd, Ellery had her baby Einsteins...



And the coolest part of PCH was they let me take her for like hour long walks around the whole hospital, even outside!



So I can't even begin to express how cool I think it is that Ellery came home on the Fourth of July. We were scared because Thursday night was 3 days and still no poo from the babe and that means they need to start giving her some nutrition in her IV, well she needed a better IV, a pick-line! No no no no, please no. She was scheduled to go in Friday morning, Caleb and I had given up on being home for the fourth and just had to get prepared that her bowels just weren't going to work for a long time or maybe not at all...urgh. Caleb did all kinds of stretches and leg kicks with Ellery to get her pumping, he was rolling her around and pushing on her little tummy. We were desperate...
In the middle of the night that night she totally had a bowel movement! It was awsome, who knew I would be so excited about poo! They canceled the pick-line, gave her food instead and bam we were home FREE the next day...the day we celebrate our FREEDOM, I mean come on could it get any better?!! This should be it people, no more surgeries so it is hopefully true freedom.



Our good friends had a fun bar-b-que planned so we spent some time at home, then headed over for some dinner and then watched the schneff? farms fireworks in our neighbors driveway, it was fun!

Stomach Surgery

So with it being summer, Ellery's ostomy is driving us insane! She sweats so bad and so the base leaks all the time now and it is no fun replacing it, plus her skin is getting infected and nasty. So it's been six weeks since Ellery's heart surgery which means we can get her ostomy closed up anytime....so I scheduled her for Monday. We are nervous, but sooooo excited because it really will change a lot of how we live day to day. Taking away any extra stress is a good thing.

So that brings me to extra stress number 2. Ellery's feeding tube. This thing is also a hassle, especially now that Ellery pulls it out all the time! I hate having to put those in, it is so mean. We just got a new Speech therapist who I love already and Ellery really isn't anywhere close to taking the volume she needs to be taking in liquids. It will take some time and work to get her doing anything with liquids. So I've been researching the G-Tube or Mic-Key Button and I was always anti that idea, but recently I've been considering it. I looked at a ton of blogs of those that have babies who went from the NG to the button and all were pleased with the difference it made. Ellery is just getting old enough now that the tube just bothers her all the time now and she is much happier when it's out.

So.......I added putting in a Mic-Key Button to Ellery's stomach surgery.
So starting next week, no more bag and no more tube!!! I'm stoked really, I just hope all goes well and we can get in and out quick! If it does go well, we should only be there maybe 4-5 days.

We are actually doing this surgery and Phoenix Childrens Hospital so that will be different, but hopefully a good change. Please pray for her though because quote "something always happens" and this time we would rather everything went just perfect.

Wild Fundraiser!!

So Caleb's sister, Breanna lives in Sierra Vista and works at Buffalo Wild Wings. Well, she somehow worked it out that the restaurant was willing to give 15% of people's checks to Ellery if they brought in the flyer promoting the event! Go Breanna, we were excited and just figured it would add the the Benefit Account. Well, the event turned into an awsome ordeal with many people involved and wanting to help us out. In the end, EVERY check, no flyer needed, took 15% out to go towards Ellery, there was a raffle, and door prizes!



It was a big jump from very girly and frilly hair salon to tough and wild grill and bar. Ellery and I took the 3 hour drive with some family to the event and Caleb and his Dad came down for a late dinner.
The hightlight for me had to be when the Budweiser Guy showed up with a specialty made sign for Ellery as a surprise. Can you say that you have your own beer sign? I didn't think so...






They also played Ellery's slide show, pictures from birth to her last heart surgery on a few random screens, right next to soccer and baseball!






My mom put in for this really neat plant and she won! It's all real, and the man in the backround does not know us, just an instant friend.





This woman was the miracle worker who works at buffalo wild wings with Breanna and she went to town organizing the raffle! Out of the goodness of her heart, she is one of the sweetest people I have ever met!



So they actually managed to get a very nice HP laptop to raffle off. Crazy huh? Everyone was putting in for that of course, but this was the lucky guy to take it home! I'm really gald he one because he put in $250 worth of tickets, paid out in the end thank goodness!!



Thanks again to Breanna for putting that together, we were not expecting it and in the end I believe they raised about $2500 so Ellery is now richer than Caleb and I! We are so blessed and can't seem to comprehend how blessed. We are surrounded by amazing people...thank you all!!!

Arboretum Hike

So last Saturday, I was itching for a hike so Caleb took us all to the Arboretum just before Superior! It was warm, but enough shade in most parts. It isn't just a hike though, it's a man-run place full of desert plants with sections and different paths leading to lots of information stands and almost every plant had a plauque with it's name and origin on it. It was beautiful really, lots of green life and flowers. Perfect place for a classroom field trip. We enjoyed walking around and getting out and about. Ellery enjoyed the back pack, we bought her a hat at walmart on our way out and it was way too big, so after tucking it in, it became a bonnet!







Ellery is getting way too smart and way too quick when it comes to her feeding tube. Almost every day last week she pulled her tube out, even on our hike somehow!
Sneaky girl...



Look who has found their toes and can't get enough of them!








She was passed out so quick on the drive home, too much excitement for someone so small...


So Ellery has out grown her plastic bath tub, she doesn't like to lay down, but she still can't sit up. So I bought her this rubber ducky bath tub and Ellery LOVES it! Caleb and I can support her sitting, but she is so wild during bath I get nervous, she loves the water and splashing! She is always throwing her self around and kicking her feet and this is nice I don't have to worry about her hurting herself. Best 11 bucks spent and if you squeeze the beak he quacks!