The post before this one super long–sorry about that. I wanted to share some details on some neat birthday blessings that Ella received over the weekend. You can view her site to see her reaction to us all singing Happy Birthday to her.

Aunt Sher brought Ella all of these wonderful clothes and toys that were passed down to Ella from the family Sher nanny’s for–what a huge blessing!:-) Miss Ella sported an adorable outfit from those piles today. My parents brought Ella a little white wooden table and chairs that is just Ella’s size (well, she has room to grow still–we have to help her get in the chair, but she loves that table!). My mom painted on it so that now it has Ella’s name on it and a big daisy in the middle. We put Ella’s tea party stuff on it and she keeps pointing at the table and saying, “Party!” or “Ella’s!” It’s quite cute. Oh, and a stuffed Pablo, from the Backyardigans, has joined her at the table for tea thanks to my cousin Brittany and Ella’s second cousins, Hattie and Draven. They sent Pablo with my mom for Ella for her birthday. As soon as she saw him, she identified him and started asking where the other four characters were. It was adorable. Thanks, Britt, Aunt Sher and Mammaw for making this weekend extra special for Ella. Oh, and Amanda brought Ella a giant bubble wand last night that we tried out today. She could hold it by herself which was extra fun for Ella. Great idea, Amanda!

Now that the weather is warming up, she can wear all of her cute clothes from Momma Sweeny, too! Renee, I still have the card to give to Ella on her birthday! It’s one of those music cards, I think, so she’ll love it.

We had quite the weekend here in WI. My mom came to visit us on Friday to help celebrate Ella’s birthday. She was able to stay until today. Sher, Stevan’s sis, came up on Sunday to hear Stev preach and bring Ella tons of birthday goodies, too. So, we had a cake and sang “Happy Birthday” to Ella yesterday afternoon. She liked what her cake looked like until she touched it and her fingers got dirty. But, once she tried a bite, she decided it was pretty good stuff (along with the thin mint ice cream).

The only tough part about this whole weekend was the fact that Ella woke up early with a fever on Friday morning. She had had a slight cough off and on last week–it was barely there, but that cough decided to develop over the weekend. By Sunday, around mid-morning, she was hacking so hard that I was worried she was going to not be able to catch her breath in between coughs. But, Ella is a trooper, so despite all of that coughing, she still tried to shove as many noodles in her mouth, as possible, during lunch time anyway. She also tried to be her extremely happy self. Though, she has quite the attitude when Mammaw is around–she doesn’t want anyone else to hold her because I think she thinks Mammaw will go away again. That’s the stinky part about not living close to family. She didn’t completely snub Aunt Sher, though, just Mommy and Daddy! She didn’t nap well, at all because she just kept coughing. I was thankful my mom was there so that I could leave Ella home with Mammaw that evening instead of dragging my hacking child to SNL or missing out all together.

She went to bed for Mom and Aunt Sher very easily, a bath having helped to calm her down. By the time we were back and ready to unwind, she was crying and coughing again. It was a tough night. At one point, Mom and I went to get some vapor stuff and Sher decided to head back to Naperville. Stevan had Ella asleep again by the time we returned. Then, I held her around 2:30 until after 3:00 because her hacking started up again. She woke up at 6:30 and I called the doc before 9:00. She has a virus that will work it’s way through her body in the next week. The doctor did prescribe some medicine with codeine for night time so she can get some real sleep–she was so miserable in his office, but he is such a wonderful pediatrician that she was waving and blowing him a kiss by the time he was done.

So, nap time today is rough right now, but she wants to sleep. So, pray this medicine works tonight so Ella can truly rest.

All in all it was a great weekend despite this little setback.

Ella loved her egg hunt, though she could get fixated on just one, if we didn’t nudge her along.

Sadly, this is probably the best Easter family pic we could get. Ella was ready for a nap and she was only smiling because she was being entertained by one of the little girls who was jumping like a frog to keep her from crying! Plus, I hate this pic of me–I thought this shirt looked good on me until I saw some of these pics. Seriously, I look 7 months pregnant and pale and my boobs look flat (sorry, I don’t usually say this stuff on my family-friendly site, but I think only women read it anyway.). See for yourself! At least Ella and Stevan look good.

One of the highlights of the day was Ella’s chance to pet some baby goats that she called, “Puppies!” A lady in our church brought them in for all the kiddos to meet during a special children’s time on Easter Sunday.

Notice how tentative she is with the goats. Ha–that was the furthest away she ever stood from them! You’d think we have a bunch of animals at our house, but we don’t. She loves animals.

Don’t you just love the dress? Stevan’s sister is a nanny for this awesome family in Chicago who has given Ella so many clothing gifts. When she gave it to us at Christmas I knew it was the perfect Easter dress!