Happy 1st Birthday Ella!

What a difference a year makes!!!

Ella's 1st Cupcake from Meghan Johnson on Vimeo.

Correction

Ella wanted to let everyone know that after further examining her baby sister's ultrasound photographs... she has confirmed with the doctor... who finally confirmed what Mommy knew all along... that the due date will officially stand as Sept. 11 rather than the 1st. Although we are all quite certain that this baby will come when she darn well pleases!
Sorry for the confusion... and thank you for your understanding.

March for Babies

It was a beautiful day in downtown Indianapolis for a 5 mile walk on behalf of premature babies!! We're all just a little bit worn out now (pathetic right?)... but it was fun and so worth it!! Thanks so much to all of you who contributed!!!

Little Miss Miracle, Noura. Her mom had this awesome shirt made... she was too cute!!

Brian, Faith, and little Hopey. We loved doing this with them!!! They sure made it a good workout for us! We did our best to keep up!!

One tired family...

A Day at the Park... and a Vocabulary Lesson

We had a great day at the park with Miss Faith and little Hopey. Both girls were a little bit tired... but they humored their Mommys and tried to make the best of things anyway...

In the last two weeks... Ella has managed to blow us away with what seems to be a new word or action every day. She waves, blows kisses, gives kisses, and even takes a step or two on her own. She can now say "bye", "quack", "moo", "baby", "Mac" (that's Max), "baba", "mama", "dada", uh-oh", "WEE!", "WOW" (but she means Bow-wow)... and I know I'm forgetting a couple more. She's pretty stinkin' hilarious and continues to be such a good baby. (Even though I think she's getting ready to rob me of my - I mean her - morning nap time). She even yelled at Max the other day when he licked her feet. She looked at him... scowled and said "MAC... NUH"! Poor dog... even the baby yells at him now... She's definitely closing out her first year with a bang of new accomplishments... and we're having a blast watching her grow. The
big '1' is in just 7 short days!!

"Wee!!"

Ella where's Daddy?? "I dunno!"

Ella's Animal Sounds from Meghan Johnson on Vimeo.

March of Dimes

I am SUPER excited and grateful for the MANY donations that have come in for the March of Dimes walk to support premature birth. Eric, Ella and I - along with several friends will be hittin' the street THIS Sunday, and I just wanted to post a gentle reminder or encouragement to anyone else out there who might be interested in making a tax deductible donation to a really great cause. I personally have the privilege of seeing the benefits of this organization directly in my work... and I promise it is $$ well spent.

Again, thanks again to ALL of you who have contributed already!! And if you're interested in still making a donation, just click on the March of Dimes banner to the left of this post. Thanks so much!!

Easter

This year we celebrated Easter by heading over to Grandma Cook's house. My parents were even able to join us this year which made it extra special. All the cousins had a great time together - especially when it came time to the Easter egg hunt. Eric and I did an absolutely FABULOUS job (note the sarcasm) of hiding the eggs... so it took a little while (about 5 minutes), for the girls to be able to find them all. Ella was treated to her usual dose of spoiling - and we all had a great time. It was a beautiful day here in Indiana, and a wonderful day of celebration as were reminded in church that morning, of the incredible miracle of our salvation!

Note the soccer ball. I'm getting her started early - much to her Father's dismay...

The girls trying hard to find all the eggs! Most of them were just lying in the grass (we got a little lazy trying to find good places).

Ella hanging out with Aunt Susie. All it took was one egg to make her happy.

Hands off Grandma! That's mine!

Looks like Daddy is destined to live in a land of pink!!!

Colorado 2009

Since I'm on a roll with videos lately... I'll go ahead and get this one up. Ella and I took a trip out to Colorado to visit my sister and BFF Susie (I think I mentioned that earlier)... but I had so many pics I decided to throw them all into a little video for your viewing pleasure...

Just a couple apologies in advance... after reviewing the final product I noticed how many repeats of pictures there are... sorry about that. I'm also sorry for the apparent obsession we had with the giraffes at the zoo. But seriously... these things were in our FACES and LICKING US!!!

Don't forget to stop the music on the right sidebar!


Colorado 2009 from Meghan Johnson on Vimeo.

More!

What's that?? You want to see more??!! Oh... OK... since you begged...

An oldie but a goodie:


Elmo & Ricky from Meghan Johnson on Vimeo.

The Binky

Ricky's been on my mind a lot lately. It seems like no matter how hard I try or how much time passes, the bad memories of the last year of his life always dominate my thoughts. I remember vividly feeling incredibly angry throughout the last 3-4 days of his life - while we were in the hospital with him - because I didn't understand why he had to die under such awful circumstances... And I worried that the images of him suffering would be the things I would remember in the end. I hoped as many told me, that I would be wrong about all that... but even after all this time, I really do struggle with getting those memories out of my head. The happy days, the sweet moments, despite the fact that there were countless... I have to fight to recall.

I came across this video yesterday... and I had to post it. It is exactly what I needed to remember the "good times". Ricky adored his pacifier. He was never without it... never. We had one of those clippy things that keep it attached to the child's outfit - and he even wore it to bed. With a healthy baby, I probably would have worried about the attachment... but for Ricky, it was the only oral stimulation he ever had. His therapists and doctor were always amazed that he would even take the thing... because most kids with oral aversion wouldn't go near a pacifier. For him - it was something we encouraged. He was about 8 1/2 months old in this video... and as cute as ever...

**Pause the music on the right side bar if you want to hear the sound on this video**


The Paci from Meghan Johnson on Vimeo.