First time for our family participating in "Cow Appreciation Day". If you went to Chic*Fil*A dressed up like a cow today, you got your meal for FREE! So that is what we did for family night tonight and had a blast. Elliot obviously loved his sample of peach milkshake.

our little chic~fil~a advertisers

Even Michael dressed up like a cow. I was impressed that he not only allowed me to dress him up like this but that he also went out in public shamelessly. It's amazing what you will do for your kid's happiness (or free chic~fil~a)! Thanks sweetie ~ we all love you :)

Tidbits:

• For those who read my post a while back about my frustration with my OBGYN, I DID switch doctors several weeks back. The first visit I had was for my glucose screening test and I brought BOTH kids with me. I thought, if this visit goes well, then I'm sure that everything will be great. The midwife came in ~ both Emma and Elliot were having meltdowns (Emma's meltdown was purely reactionary to Elliot's meltdown~ ahh, the domino effect). Within a minute, the midwife had both kid's attention- Elliot pulling out her measuring tape and Emma squirting the gel on the doppler to hear Ethan's hearbeat. Mission accomplished. SO GLAD I SWITCHED!! Not only was my midwife super sweet and great with Emma and Elliot, she also informed me where she lived, gave me her phone numbers and told me I could knock on her door any time. She is my neighbor!! About five houses down the street from us~ and we walk ordrive by her house every day. She told me that when it's time for me to call her and then beep the horn when we drove past. I'm wondering what the point of even going to the hospital is when she is that close (as LONG as she has pain meds in her possession). Anyway, I'm very thankful for the Lord graciously allowing a smooth transition and pleasant experience. BTW, my new OBGYN has yet to obtain my records from my old OBGYN even after several calls and guarantees from them that "they were being sent over right away".
• Elliot is taking more steps now and will be walking in no time. His first steps were well over a month ago, but he is such a fast little crawler and gets around great like that! He is also finally doing some baby signs like "more" , "please" and "all done". Everything else is still mostly grunts. In varied tones. He loves to climb and has been working on trying to climb out of his crib. At 21 lbs. , 31" tall- he is 25% for weight and 75% for height. Throwing toys has become a new pasttime, as well as giving high~fives accompanied with manly "grunts". He is a cutiepie, and still a cuddlebug. And he has no earthly idea what is coming in just a few weeks.
• Emma is becoming such a little girl. Bye Bye Baby. She actually HELPS me out with some small things around the house and has taken responsibility for some of her personal care- along with the usual cleaning her own toys, books and putting dirty clothes in the basket. She is usually thrilled to have any opportunity to help mommy. Especially in the kitchen. She sings a lot and carries a tune wonderfully, and Elliot dances every time he hears her voice. Often she will sing her own story to a familiar tune. It's highly amusing. Night times have been a particular challenge lately and we are hoping that this phase ends soon. She has been waking up several times each night~ Michael and I have taken turns every other night to tend to her and get her to go back to sleep. It has been exhausting for us to say the least! One of her favorite things to do is play "Nurse Nancy" with Elliot's tools. Even though she has a little doctor kit, she prefers to use the screwdriver, saw, and pliers. She keeps me smiling and at the same time reminds me that God is patient with me when I fail over and over again. She is about to turn three in August and talks about her birthday almost every day. We love our girl.
• Michael is doing so, so well! He has his appetite back for the first time in a long time. I can't seem to keep up with it :) We continually are thankful for recovery and regained strength. He has felt so much better and has been able to do so much more rather than being sick and drained every single day. Praise the Lord!!