Lost Angel

I know that it's hard to deal with loss and I really thought twice about posting a small note to the child we have lost as it seems much more emotionally "safe" to move on and not mention it. But when I look at this blog, and all it's postings, this is our life in a nutshell, mostly happy and sometimes not so happy. I cannot skip over such an event that will forever more shape me and our growing family. So on the eve of what will be the day that this once precious, growing child is removed from my body, for my emotional well being I must acknowledge how I am feeling in honor of him. To my lost angel, I was so very blessed to carry you, even if it was only for a short time. Although you will not be with me physically I will forever more be your proud Mommy and think of you always. For reasons that I cannot possibly know right now you were not meant for this world and I must believe that it is because of a much greater plan and is for the best in the end. I know you are in a wonderful place with your adoring Grandmommy and I trust that you will take care of each other until the day I have the overwhelming honor of being with you both. I love and will miss you more than words can express.

Lunch with the Geck Family

We hadn't seen the Gecks in quite a while so we met for lunch at Shady Grove. Sloan is the cutest!! I can't wait until the girls are talking away to each other. Right now the only convo was Ella continuously pointing at Sloan and saying "baby!"

Discovering her Shades

Just had to snap this shot. She found her shades buried in her toy basket and wore them ALL day! When they weren't on her face she wanted them on the top of her head. Too cute :)

Bouncy Fun!

We met Heather, Natalie and Brooke at Extreme Fun for some moonwalk time. Ella was scared to death of walking in them and pretty much just screamed if she wasn't being held! I had no idea I was going to have to be in all the moonwalks with her. The only part she really liked was the giant foam pit. After her initial skepticism she loved being thrown in and them trying to climb out!

Lunch with Friends

We met Sara and Eva at Bookpeople for a morning storytime and then attempted to stroll around Anthropologie and do some mommy shopping; that part didn't work out too well so we left pretty quickly to chow on some lunch.

Nap Time for Little Girls!

Today before Kayla left I attempted to get a couch photo, like the ones we've taken every time we've been together, but as seen in the photos, neither girl was any too cooperative and thus, no good couch photo was able to be captured. Here's the couch photo of them almost one year ago to the day. My how they've grown!

More Late Nights!

Alicia, JV and Kayla, along with Auntie Deanna and Uncle Jason, came into town today. We had fun hanging out with the girls and watching them play all evening and then JV cooked us one of his famous dinner creations. It's amazing to see how much the girls have changed over the past year!

On the Way Home

Sunday morning Uncle Trey came over to Gram and Pop's to have breakfast with us, then the 3 of us headed over and visited with great Aunt Mary and then on to Spring where we had lunch with my mom's best friend, "Aunt" Sandy, who we hadn't seen in a very long time, before hitting the long road back to Austin.

More Houston Fun

We went out to visit Aunt Lisa and cousins Alex and Zack this morning. Ella had a great time roaming the house and playing with Alex. Aunt Lisa commented after spending a bit of time with Miss Ella that she could really see the attitude streak in her. See, I'm really not kidding, folks, when I say her attitude is growing larger by the hour. Anywho, after coming back to Gram and Pop's and taking a 3 and a half hour nap (!) everyone came over for dinner. Ella, Gus and Ethan had a blast together as usual and Gus really enjoyed pouring water over Ella's head in the bath!

Another Long Day

Papa was on his day inbetween so was off work. We hung out with him most of the day, but as you can see he was very tired from being up all night. In the evening we went to Auntie Deanna and Uncle Jason's house to eat dinner and hang out while Auntie Lisa was there. Uncle Jason made a palette of pillows and blankets for Ella, which she loved, and continually wanted to be thrown into! it was yet another late night for miss no-schedule-Ella these days.

Couldn't Resist

We left for Houston after a long morning of swimming lessons then lunch with a friend. She was beat by the time we finally hit the road around 1pm. I couldn't resist taking a picture of her passed out with her blankie and her "baby" in the car shortly after we left.

Leaving Port Aransas

She liked the ferry ride, but that's pretty much the only thing she was happy about from the time we left the beach house until she fell asleep in the car after lunch! She was so tired from a long weekend of staying up late and roaming the beach that she was full of complaints and "explosive expression" for the better part of the day :)

Day at the Beach

We spent a big chunk of the day on the beach. Although Ella didn't love being in the water she did love to roam the beach and check out all the other people and the other kids' toys especially! It was pretty exhausting chasing her around in the sun so we were lucky we had so many extra pairs of legs to share the job with!

Trip to Port Aransas

The extended Fleming Family went on a trip to Port Aransas over the weekend. We spent the night at Granny and Popo's Thursday night and then headed out early Friday morning to the coast. Ella was pretty good on the car ride there. It wasn't until just outside Corpus Christi that she stared asking to get "up please?" We stopped in Corpus and had lunch and then headed to Port A. While we were waiting to check into the house we stopped and did some shopping and had snow cones. After we got to the house and Ella had a little snooze we headed for an evening stroll on the beach.

Out and About

Today we ran some errands and had lunch with Dena and Alexa. Ella REALLY likes Alexa and when leaving she started whining when I took her out of Alexa's arms! Makes a mom feel all warm inside : ) (sorry about the eyes closed Alexa!) Then we headed over to Dana's to pick up some sweet treats and ended up visiting for a bit. By the time we left it was way past nap time and Miss Thang fell asleep in the car as soon as it started moving.

Ella and Kaitlin

It's been so long since we'd seen our friends Kaitlin and her mom, Katherine! The girls had a great time together; it was entertaining to watch them and compare how they've grown. Here's a couple of pictures of them last summer and then 2 from today. What a difference a year makes!

Reading in the Rocking Chair

I tried to sneak up on her and film her while she was unaware of the camera, but it didn't quite work out that way. I think she really does speak another language, Ellanese, very fluently.

Back on the Lake

Just a Saturday afternoon boatin' around on Lake Austin...

July 4th

We traveled to the Fleming Ranch on Lake Medina outside of San Antonio to hang out with the whole family for the holiday. Ella had a blast wearing her great Grandma Fleming's beads, playing ball with great Grandpa and riding around and around the lake in the golf cart with great Grandma and Popo. She was asleep before we were off the ranch headed back to Austin that night!

Momentary Hair Clip

Just a quick shot of the hair clips Granny gave her before she rips it out and puts it in her mouth!

Cameron Park Zoo

We headed out with Heather, Brooke and Natalie to the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco this morning. Although the drive was not the girls' favorite, we managed to make it there with some enthusiasm left! The zoo was so neat! It was just big enough so that you get to see the whole thing in a relatively short amount of time. They had some really fun animals too! Giant turtles, elephants, tigers, lions, bears, all sorts of birds, rhinos, giraffes, aquariums and reptiles; they even had a new exhibit with buffalo which was neat to see. The girls had a blast and we made it out before the heat got unbearable.

Dr Suess Character

Here she is imitating her father on the toilet this morning. Doesn't she look like a Dr Suess character in these?!