IT IS WARM!!!!! YAY!!!!

It is sunny, warm and beautiful outside!!! YAY!!!! This is the way it is supposed to be! After living OUTSIDE of Michigan (either LA or Haiti) for the last 10 years, the winter was very very miserable for me! I was so thrilled to have a sunny day! We walked to church and had shorts and T-shirts on again!!!! YAY!!!!!!

We had a picnic today after church and had A BLAST!!!!! Jaryse and Ecrissa ran around and played in the grass, blew bubbles, climbed trees and just had so much fun hanging out!!!! I played with them and sat on the blanket in awe of them. If you look closely at the picture above, you'll see how talented Jaryse is at picking out his own clothing! :)

Ecrissa is enjoying her new birthday presents and has had a great week at school!

Isn't she super cute!!!!

Birthday Girl, 3 days and 3 celebrations

Ecrissa had an awesome birthday!!!! She got to celebrate with me and her brother on Thursday as well as both of her classrooms at school. She was so super happy all day long!

Jaryse on the other hand slept all the way through her dinner at Applebee's! Guess it's not as exciting when it's not your own birthday!!!!

Ecrissa loved her food and ice cream at Applebee's. Then on Friday, we went to dinner with my mom and opened more presents.

Then on Saturday, we celebrated at Chuck E Cheese with my dad's side of the family. She got more presents and tons of fun at C.E.C's!!!!!

She is now fully exhausted and in bed! I am fully exhausted and about to go to bed! I am so glad that she is so loved and so special to so many people! But, I am also glad that birthday week is over!!!!! That is too much stress on the momma who wants everything to be perfect for her princess!!! Sleepy time! Good night!

The most fun thing about this birthday.......

......is that Ecrissa is anticipating it!!!! In the past, she has not had the cognitive skills to fully understand what her birthday was all about, understand days, months, or time in general to grasp that she was going to have another birthday or that it was coming.

This year is different. She has been talking about her birthday for about 2 weeks. She keeps asking when it is, singing (signing) the song, and for the past couple of days telling everyone that it is her birthday! This is such a fun thing for me to watch! Such a confirmation of her overall growth over the past year!

One of the "family traditions" that I started when we got home from Haiti was that for every holiday I decorate the table. We have a calendar on the wall with various explanations, with pictures and signs, of the holiday's of the month and the kids put up the number each day. The day of the holiday, after the kids go to bed, I decorate the table for that holiday. It helps to cement into Ecrissa's brain that this day is special. She got out of bed and saw me get a couple of things and so she is now so super excited because she KNOWS that her special day is tomorrow and that the table will be just for her in the morning! I look forward to sharing her day with her tomorrow!

Ecrissa's Birthday Table!

The reminder by the calendar with her birthdate, signs and pictures to help her learn about her birthday and other holidays!

Our "MAY" calendar! Very busy month! It doesn't always look this chaotic!

Hopefully Ecrissa sleeps tonight amid all of this excitement!!!! Looking forward to a great 8th birthday with my little princess!

And so begins birthday week!

Ecrissa will turn 8 years old on Thursday. I am so AMAZED. Time flies!!!! Is it because I met her when she was 17 months old???? Is it because she was almost 3 years old when she finally began living with me??? Is it just because she is SO. STINKIN. AMAZING. that I just can't believe my baby girl is growing up so fast???? I think I'm going with the last one!

This week serves as another week of reflection for me. Not because I remember the week before she was born, and not because I remember the day that she was born. Unfortunately, I did not get to participate in those moments of her life. I reflect on so many things. How much she's grown, how much I've grown and just on our lives in general. I'll share some of those reflections over the next couple of days.

Yesterday, I wanted my baby back. As I watched her play, I really longed for that baby. My almost 3 year old that began living with me. The tiny, fragile, 18 pound baby (I know, 3 years old isn't a baby, but she looked like a baby wearing 9-12 month old clothes) that I carried with ease. The little tiny thing that needed a bottle, that was in diapers and depended on me for everything. But then, I remembered. I remembered the tantrums, her fear, her anxieties, her screaming all day, her no sleeping screaming nights, her skinny and malnourished body, and her pale infected skin and reddish thin and fragile hair and I decided that I am so thrilled that I don't! She is now healthy, 50th percentile for height and weight. Her hair and skin glow and are beautiful beyond words. She walks, runs, jumps, and hoola hoops with the best of them!!! She enjoys playing happily during the day and her nights are spent sleeping peacefully. She has a cochlear implant, hears the world around her and is beginning to understand spoken language and is making noises and sounds that are meaningful. She uses sign language well and is able to communicate with her peers. I can have a conversation with her. She is academically advancing and is becoming independent in many daily activities. She laughs, she tells jokes and she is so very creative.

My momma heart will always want to hold that baby.....but even more my momma heart bursts with joy watching this amazing little girl grow up! How blessed I am to have been chosen to be a part of it!

More on Ecrissa this week as we lead up to the 3 day birthday celebrations!!!!!!