brag post :)

Just wanted to stop by to brag on my little person a bit!! I'm just bursting at the seems with love for her!!! Yesterday while preparing her birthday banner she walked up and proclaimed "i" just as I placed the letter "i" on the sign. I said "Jon did you see that??? Does she know how to recognize letters??" "I don't know, I mean I have showed her some." "So have I, but I had know idea that she knew them!!!" Jon decided to test her keep in mind she was even reading the sign upside down!!! Jon said "Ella can you find the "B"? " Ella pointed at the "B" and proclaimed "B!" We were shocked!! This went on from letter to letter where she was extremely accurate on most of them!!!! Ummmmm wow, apparently she is a genius.

The way she soaks up things is amazing! Today she has just been so cute! She loves to cheer on the USA in any event, but her favorites are the swimming and volleyball. She will randomly start to say "go go go, yes!" including clinched fists! She says "go USA go USA!". She was sitting beside me this morning and she was holding my hand and she wiggled my pinky around and said "pinky!" then she wiggled my thumb and said "thumb!" then she wiggled my fingers and said "fingers!" She can count, she knows her colors, she knows several scriptures, she knows animals and the sounds they make, she knows shapes, she knows how to match two pictures that look the same, she asks nicely when she wants something (most of the time) , she knows how to use my iPhone almost as well as I do, She is finally eating lots of solids and is dong very well, she still has never tried to get out of her crib or her big girl bed once we tell her to stay, She loves fruits and vegetables, everything we teach her she learns at record pace! Jon and I often refer to her as an angel on earth as she just seems too perfect to be a toddler, not that she doesn't have "moments", but they are usually very short lived!

She is potty trained and it only took about 2 1/2 days... AMAZING, she still has the occasional accident (maybe once a week) but I can't complain! She even keeps her pull up dry during nap! :) She is full of kisses and I LOVE it! Her random acts of love toward me and the constant encouraging words from her lets me know that that is what she is feeling and hearing from us, and I am so humbled that God is giving me this incredible opportunity to be apart of such a wonderful little girl's life!

She is so into singing right now! She will sing and sing and sing, using anything for a microphone and being the music/singing person that I am, I love it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OO8d6cJcmY&feature=channel&list=UL This is a youtube video of her singing "You are my Sunshine"

Currently she is in full control of my heart strings as she randomly exclaims "I love Mommy!" as she looks right in my eyes followed by her gorgeous smile! I make a huge deal over it every.single.time. Pretty sure that's why she keeps doing it ;) Butttt it is fabulous non the less, and for those of you that don't know me, my being overly excited over something isn't hard. :) When she does that I just melt into a puddle, so many times I have felt like maybe she wouldn't love me because of all she has to go through, The shots, the medications, the hospital stays, the recoveries, the restrictions, the cautions, the lack of bonding time when I couldn't be with her in the hospital... But she does love me, and that my friends is the BEST feeling in the WHOLE WORLD!!!! The whole pregnancy (that 2 years later I still haven't recovered from) The stress and concern that has filled our hearts and minds everyday since our first scare and 5 weeks pregnant, every sacrifice of family and friends, holidays, parties, outings of any kind really. ALL of it is Worth it. Life is so good and God is so faithful.

Today is 1 week from our miracles 2nd Birthday! I can't believe how far she has come from her "20% chance to live" diagnosis! What an amazing life we get to live!!! "This is the day that the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it!" Psalm 118:24