Beach bum!

Last week the weather was gorgeous so we took advantage of it and headed to Clearwater Beach. Even though I grew up in FL and was at the beach a lot, there is something different about it now. Taking Ella there and watching her completely happy playing in the sand, building castles and begging to swim in the water even though her little lips were purple...just makes me smile. She really loved it all. Being there with Tom and having him carry all the heavy stuff was awesome as well;) Gosh it's so nice to be home. And yes, by home, I mean Florida.

For more pics click here.

Welcome Home Daddy!!

It was a beautiful reunion for us last Monday and we are still so excited to have Daddy back in our arms. We picked him up at the OKC airport and Ella was bouncing around (even at 10 pm) full of energy and excitement! She was waving her little American flag and playing with the balloon we got him. She even tried at one point running through the doors of security! When her daddy finally walked up to her she gave him a big hug and kiss. I thought for sure she might be her normal shy self, but I definitely cried seeing them re-unite again. Of course he gave her a barbie doll and from that point on these two have become inseperable. At bedtime, she asks for Daddy to put her to bed and for me "to go on the couch". She holds daddy's hand now and gets piggyback rides from him. Her eyes light up when she sees him and she will touch his face all the time as if she's checking to see if he's really there with her. I am loving every moment of watching them together. I'd say life is good now that he's back, but life is GREAT now that he's home with us. To have my better half to help out even with the littlest of tasks just gives me such relief. To wake up in his arms is a comfort I can't describe unless you have spent countless nights without your mate. My heart is home again and our little family is whole once more.

At the airport

SO excited!

Watching the doors for daddy

Is he really here?

HUGS!!

And that's when mama cried.

Welcome Home Daddy! We have missed you...more than you'll ever know!

Grateful

I can't believe this long year is finally coming to an end. By this time tomorrow I will have my husband in my arms again and Ella will have her Daddy there to kiss her good night. It's going to be an adjustment for all of us, but I have a feeling it won't be too difficult;) When Tom left last April I will never ever forget just coming home from the airport and crying on the couch. The feeling of loneliness was so overwhelming I didn't know how I would get through each day. But then Ella came up to me and hugged me and I knew I wasn't alone. I would get through a year without her dad for her. And I did. Although this year has had it's trying moments, I feel I've grown a lot from it (literally, huh? with a seriously fast growing belly...) But in all seriousness I am happy I stuck it out here in Oklahoma instead of going home to FL. I'm proud of myself. I'm much more independent. I'm stronger. I have a renewed love for my Catholic Faith. I can fix a garbage disposal, plaster a hole in the wall to re-hang curtains, mow the lawn, build furniture, travel across the world with a toddler, and so much more. I can only hope one day Ella will look back to this year (of course I will have the blog printed!) and realize her mama did her absolute best. I hope she's proud of me and I hope, more than anything, I have instilled a bit of my strength and determination in her.

To my family and friends, Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of the emails, phone calls, Facebook messages, texts, and cards to keep me going daily. It lifted my spirits and got me through each day with an added smile. I have a wonderful support system and without you all, the days would have been much longer. To my MIL and my mama, I never tire of you checking in on me. Don't stop those calls just because Tom is coming home. I love you both so much. To my bestie Bridget, I know you don't know this but those daily morning calls made time fly by for me. You are the best listener and I really don't know what I would do without you. To my husband, please don't go away again for a really long time. I may have made it through this just fine, but Lord knows all of your girls need you around. We missed you a TON.

I can't express how grateful I am for the life I have...how appreciative I am of all God has given me. I am forever counting my blessings.

And now I'm off to bed alone for the last time with this baby girl kicking inside me like crazy. I think she's just a little excited to hear her daddy's voice for the first time.

Keeping busy...

..counting down the days until the man of the house returns! Less than 4 days now until he is home in our arms and you bet your bottoms we won't be allowing him out of our sight for a long time! I smile everyday knowing the time is almost over and the loneliness that I feel will soon be gone.

Here are just a few pics of how we have kept busy (because seriously the ONLY thing on my mind lately is the fact that I get to see my husband SO soon.)

Sidewalk chalk. And lots of it.

Learning to rollerskate

Crazy Joe (One of our good friends..Ella knows him as crazy Uncle Joe) brought Ella this shirt back from Vegas when she was just 4 months old! It was so sweet of him to think of her and it finally fits her! She's like a little roller derby girl;) haha

Ella is really good at art;) Her new thing is faces and animals.

This is her first cat. If you can't tell those are ears at the top and paws at the bottom and whiskers on the face.

There is a delicious new frozen yogurt place here. I took Ella there for lunch one day;) I'm not going to lie. My HUGE cup was filled with strawberry, vanilla and cheesecake frozen yogurt topped with cap'n crunch, white chocolate chips and strawberries (I had to add a little healthy something to it!) It was a pregnant woman's heaven.

Despite that sad little look, she had a blast and loved her "ice cream". She doesn't quite accept the frozen yogurt term just yet.

Thanks for checking in!

Easter Weekend cont.

Ella woke up to a trail of eggs to her Easter basket. Each egg had a jelly bean and even though it was only 7:30 am I let her go wild eating up the candy goodness. At one point she told me "the Easter bunny is SO nice!" I have to admit, this age is pretty darn cute when it comes to these holidays. To watch Ella's excitement over finding eggs and opening them up makes me so happy. Even though Tom isn't here, I still wanted to keep our tradition going and give her a nice Easter. The girl has enough changes in her life...might as well keep our holidays traditional:) She gives me every reason to smile and when she smiles I know I am doing my job as her mom. To see her hugging a box of Peeps, or jumping for joy over Curious George stickers is awesome. I was jumping right along with her. (Probably because I knew the Peeps were really for me and well it's been a long Lent without candy). We went to Easter Mass and then headed over to Michelle's house to spend Easter with a big group of friends. The Easter Bunny dropped off a bunch of eggs there as well and the kids had a great time finding them all. It was a great day for Me & E...one of my favorites all year. The blessings in my life are abundant!

So excited over stickers.

And even more excited for Peeps!

In her adorable Easter dress

Hunting for eggs at Michelle's house

Check out her flower espadrilles...

To view more pictures of our Easter Weekend, click here.

In the very beginning of the video you hear Ella saying "The Easter bunny is so nice..."

"One for you and one for me"

Thanks for checking in!

Easter Weekend

We couldn't have asked for a better Easter weekend. We had a great time celebrating with friends and it was nice not to spend the holiday alone. On Saturday Ella participated in the annual giant Easter Egg hunt at Ft. Sill. There were over 30,000 eggs. My girl collected 4! haha She didn't care for the egg hunt as much as the petting zoo. I think she would have stayed in there for hours if I let her. I love that she's not afraid of animals. I was of course more afraid of those baby goats than she was (I just picture them eating her outfit--Thank you Aunt Bunny for Ella's adorable dress!). She had her first tour of a firetruck and loved it. I couldn't believe the monster pout on her face when I told her it was time to get out of the truck. Maybe she thought she had to give back the fabulous hat;) Later that night we colored eggs (definitely missed Daddy's egg coloring skills) and just enjoyed some QT mama and daughter.

At the massive Egg Hunt

Showing off her empty basket to Cadence

At the petting zoo

Look at that pout!

I really can't go back on the truck mommy??

She wanted NO help. "I do it mama! I color the eggs!"

"I did it!"

Is there anything sweeter than this face? ;)

Happy Easter! We missed you Daddy.

Easter Sunday pictures to follow:)