Bad bad news.

I am just going to put it out there.

Ellie has a black tooth. As in. . . a dead tooth. How did it happen? I have no clue. But a few days ago I was looking at her teeth and noticed that one was a little "less white" then the other. So I brushed them. Then last night on my way out the door I saw it.

Jason was holding her and I went to give her a little kiss goodbye and she opened her beautiful mouth and I saw her little black tooth. I freaked. (Do any of you watch "John and Kate Plus 8" because I remind myself of Kate a lot. Help me).

Jason sat down with her and checked it out and it is a for sure thing. That poor little tooth is a goner. WAAAA!!! I called my brother asap and when he didn't answer I didn't know where to turn!!! Doesn't anyone feel the pain I am feeling?

I drove to the gym and had some good comforting from Melanie, Brooke and Debi. Well, I don't know if it was "good" but they did listen. I was looking for someone to tell me how it is NO BIG DEAL and that no one would notice. But puh-lease. They aren't dumb. It really isn't a big deal, except for the fact that she is going to have that tooth or SIX MORE YEARS!!!! Lovely.

So, I got home from the gym, checked on Ellie, even thought about shining a light on her mouth to get a good look. (I was a bit rushed last night on my way out. And a little in shock). But I thought better of it and waited until this morning.

Still there.

I attempted taking a picture of it for the blog, but she was getting so mad at me pulling her lip up over and over again. I am sure she was thinking, "Geez Mom. Relax. It happened and you have already seen it now a dozen times so BACK OFF!!!" (I just do it because I love her. :)

And there it is. My first black tooth. I would have put my money on Noah having the first, but I can see that little Ellie is going to give him a run for it. She is still just as darling as ever and sweet as before. Instead of 4 white teeth, she now has 3.

Life goes on. Black tooth and all.

La Quincinera!!

My baby turned ONE!! Last Thursday Ellie had her first birthday. And we did nothing. I am not a big believer of throwing a one year old a big bash. But if someone else is going to do all the work. . . count me in. And so I have to say that Debi is an all star mommy. My girlfriend Debi has a daughter that is one day younger than Ellie and she loves doing parties for their first birthday. She asked me if I was planning on doing anything, then we both just laughed. She knows me well. Debi wanted to do something for Molly and thought it would be fun to combine it. And that sounded like a lot of fun to me. She sent the invites, made the cakes and decided on the theme. Anyone that knows me at all knows I do NOT like the "princess" thing either. But Debi did such a great job with it and I loved every bit. (There were no characters involved). You all know what I mean. I learned what a smash cake was and how do go about doing it. Ellie wasn't too sure of it either. I had to literally smash it in her face. Gently that is. :) The cakes were in the shape of little tiara's with their names on them. And the actual cake was a castle. Way to go Debi. . . again. We served hamburgers, baked beans, salsa, cookies and chips. All very yummy. Who doesn't LOVE a great bbq with so many good friends?
I am so glad we did have a party for Ellie. Even if I didn't do any of the work. Hey, I did make some food. That was work wasn't it? :) I loved celebrating the special day that Ellie entered my world. She is one thing in my life that makes me happier than I ever thought imaginable. I love every bit of that girl. EVERY BIT!! And besides the fact that she isn't walking, she IS doing some other very impressive tricks.

*Ellie has been clapping for several months
*She waves"hi"
*She holds up one finger when asked how old she is
*She knows where her nose is and her tongue
*She can CRAWL! :)
*Ellie says, "So big!" with her arms
*She knows how to do "yes" and "no" (No was learned very early).
*She will dance to music
*Ellie is beginning to sort shapesI have to say a huge thanks again to Debi for making such a special day for our girls. She really went all out and I loved it. Maybe I will do it for my next child's first. NO, that was NOT an announcement. Not even close. But one day. :) Happy Birthday little El's!!!

For Ellie's birthday both Grandparents gave her a doll. Grandma and Grandpa Kohler gave her an American Girl baby doll that I LOVE. I have always wanted to have a girl to do all these girlie things with. And American Girl? Hello. Why didn't I ever have one? And Grandma and Grandpa Smythe gave her a Cabbage Patch Kid. I LOVED those when I was little. I remember getting one for SEVERAL years every Christmas. So it is something I planned on doing with Ellie. And it is never too soon to start with dolls. :) Ellie loves both dolls so much. She is a true girl. Thanks to all the other friends that brought such wonderful gifts. She is a lucky little girl to have so many people that care about her. And I do have a wonderful family and fantastic friends. :)(Jason just got home from work and asked me if I had looked at my blog lately. I told him I had a few minutes ago and he told me he changed the title to this post. I said, "La Quincinera?" And he said, "Yeah, I changed it to 'I'm One!'" I asked him why and he told me he thought I was confused, that a quincinera was for 15. PUH-LEASE!!! I know what a quincinera is. That was a bit of a joke with some friends I have here. Just in case any of you were thinking I didn't know my Spanish. I do. :) Feliz Quincinera!!!!)

A Star!

I forgot to post this a long time ago and now that I remember. . . here it is! I bet you didn't know Jason was a star.
He's famous... click here!
The weather has finally made a change and we have been seriously enjoying some outside time. I am really going to miss this backyard when we move next year. It has saved me from long days with nothing to do inside. The boys love it out back. But today we got to go the park and meet up with some friends too. It was a great day for the kids. We played from 8:45am until 8pm outside. The bath water was a good brown color and afterwards, the boys were BEAT! They went to bed without a complaint. If only this weather could stay awhile. I hear it is going to snow a bit on Sunday. BOO!

ROAR back!!

This last week the weather has slowly been getting nice. And so the boys have been spending all there time outside in the backyard. We are lucky to live in such a great location where there are several children Jackson and Noah can play with. And they play together really well. But the other day the boys came inside and said they were done playing out there. I asked them why and Jackson said, "The older boys were "roaring" at us." (Noah was in the background "roaring" as Jackson was talking. So I said to Jackson, "Roar back." I am trying to get Jackson to be a little tougher. He is such a sweetie, and I want him to stay that way, but I also want him to be a little more aggressive. Does that even make sense? Well, it's official. My boys can hang with the big ones now. Look what we got today. Noah was so excited to have a gun that he insisted on taking it to bed. They were shooting EVERYTHING they could for the last hour before bed. And now they are armed and ready to roar back! :). . .or we are redneck!

Vamos a Washington D.C.!!!!

Last weekend we decided to take a little get away vacation to Washington D.C. and it was so much fun. We had a blast. The weather was good, and the kids were all wonderful. It was so fun to just spend uninterrupted time together. No pager, no email, no dumb hospital.

We left on Friday after Jason was off work and arrived at the hotel around 9pm. We stayed at the Hotel Monaco and it was really nice. No complaints. And awesome location for getting around to the museums, restaurants, and shopping. Jackson slept with me in the bed and Jason slept with Noah in the roll away bed. NOT my idea. But Jason is a sucker for those boys and gave into Noah begging for his daddy. Ellie was in her little crib. Everyone got good rest. I guess "good rest" is relative. :)
Saturday we were out of the hotel by 8:30am, thinking the museums opened at 9am. Wrong. Try 10. And it was chilly so we walked until we found an open place to go inside and wait it out. Boring. But finally the time came and we headed for the Air and Space Museum. The boys loved it. Aside from being a little tired, they were great. No major problems. That is probably why the weekend was such a hit for me. Then we rode the Metro to the Zoo and had a SUPER fun time. I would say it was the favorite. The boys were running wild. That zoo is pretty impressive. I really loved it. Even Ellie had a fun time. At least that is what I say. She got her first Ritz cracker and went to town. After a few hours at the zoo, we took the metro again to go shopping and get something to eat. Riding the metro was HUGE for the boys. Thrilling I'd say. I think it would be pretty neat to live somewhere where there was underground transportation. I love using it. We made it back to the hotel around 10ish and hit the sack! We were beat. Jackson wanted to walk the whole day so he was exhausted. To say the least. At times he would squat and take a breather. And whine a bit. He is 4.Sunday we headed back to the Natural History Museum to see the dinosaurs and all the animals. Also a very fun time. Jackson learned what makes a mammal . . . a mammal. Do you know? Try and guess. I didn't know either. 1. has hair. 2. the mothers produce milk 3. mammals have inner ears. Nice.

After the museum, we went to check out of the hotel, and headed to another shopping mall to eat before we left. . . and shop a little. :) I loved it. Of course I found some new things for Ellie. You know me. We ate the the California Pizza Kitchen and it was yumma. I ate like a cow that weekend. I failed to mention my new found love affair with apple fritters. Who knew they were so heavenly? Emily D. opened my eyes to them last November at Dean and Deluca. Holy yum. And now the void has been filled thanks to Starbucks. Hence, the eating like a cow comment. (And Hershey's with almonds). Don't judge. :)

The drive home was fine. It actually felt quick. With the help of Baby Einstein, Ellie handles road trips fabulously.

Thanks Jason for taking us to D.C. It was a much needed family trip.