Fast Forward Five on Friday

I thought I would try something new this Friday. We have a ton of fun things coming up over the next month so I figured I would list the top five I am most excited about....




This Sat and Sun there is The Airwaves Kite festival at Voice America Park in West Chester. We are hoping the weather holds up on Sun for the three of us to head out there.



Next Sat our neighborhood has their yearly Easter egg hunt and meet the Easter bunny at the clubhouse by the pool. This will be Ella's very first Easter Egg hunt. Then the following weekend we will be heading to Grandma Joyces to celebrate Easter in Botkins with my mom's family and another Easter Egg hunt.




The day after Easter Ella and I will be heading to CoCo Key indoor waterpark with Grandma Joyce, Aunt Tonia, and cousin Emma.




I will be getting my first pair of Toms for my birthday and Ella will be getting a pair of Tiny Toms. I havent decided on which color yet...




And last but absolutely not least because it is the one Im looking most forward to..We will be heading to Myrtle Beach again this year over my birthday. My mom has had this condo over my birthday every year since I was in 6th grade. The pic below is the three of us last year in Myrtle Beach. Ella loved it last year but I know she is going to have even more fun this year. We cant wait!

My child and pet get better treatment than me...

Winston took a trip to the doggie spa last week. It was the same price as any other groomer so I figured why not?


He also got a special doggie fortune cookie at the end of his visit...


His fortune read...

Him shaking for the fortune cookie...



For first time customers he was treated with a FREE heated wrap. See description below...


TA DAH....

One Day without Shoes

One for One Movement:
In 2006, American traveler Blake Mycoskie befriended children in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One. Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes made possible by TOMS customers.





One day without shoes:
Toms shoes encourages individuals to go the day without shoes. This year the one day without shoes took place on April 5. People become curious why you arent wearing shoes, they start asking questions, spreading the word, and purchasing Toms shoes which in turn gives a pair of shoes to a child in Argentina!


Of course I was unable to go to work without shoes today (although several people across the country did not wear shoes today to support the cause). Here are Ella and I supporting the cause tonight. Ella and I are both getting are new pair of Toms here in a few short weeks!

Jumping jellyfish

A fish named Ella..

We started swim lessons tonight. Ella was feeling better, no fever since Saturday, slowly getting her appetite back, and was itching to get out of the house. We took a year break from swimming but I was anxious to get her back in lessons since she is such a little daredevil fish in the bathtub. She has been talking about swimming all weekend and was so excited to go tonight. (please excuse the blurry pics. camera was dying and therefore flash wouldnt pop up)

This was her reaction when she realized we could not immediately get in a pool after putting on our suits but rather had to drive to the pool...

scoping out the scene and immediately wanted in...



We started with kicking and floating around the lazy river section...






You can see her kick on this pic

Then to the back to practice kicking and floating..

And then to the front to practice arms by throwing the toy and her going after it..




Jumping in....






At the end the kids had a chance to go down the slides and play with the water toys...





So far I am more pleased with this location than the last place we took lessons. Much less singing, only two short songs and much more action in the water.
Ella absolutely loved it. As we were getting out of the pool she said bye water, bye swimming but as soon as she realized we were done for the week, she was not pleased!

My Poor Sick Girl

Last night we went to dinner at Red Robin where Ella was much more upset than normal and did not eat. We came home and within an hour she was burning up with a 103 temp. She became very lethargic and did not want to be moved and had rapid breathing and heart rate. I called the on call doctor who advised to keep an eye on her and if her condition deteriorated to take her to children's urgent care or ED. I kept her in bed with me til around 11 and then finally put her to bed as she was getting no sleep with me. I was a bit scared to put her to bed as even with meds we could not get the temp below 103. She slept til 8 this am and still had 102when she woke. We went to the doctor who was convinced by looking at her throat that she had strep but the quick test came back negative. They are sending it for a back up, in lab test to be sure. She did not prescribe anything as its probably a virus. This is the sickest Ive seen Ella. Temp has been consistent 101-103 all day. Ella has refused to eat anything at all. She only wants water which we mixed with a little pedialyte. Our day consisted of....

Time spent in our bed....





And time on the couch...





Her picking out which movie she wanted to watch...

Imagine that, Despicable Me. We havent seen that in ages :)



Drank lots of fluids but refused to eat anything...


At the recommendation of the pediatrician, we bought her some lollipop throat lozenges...






On a positive note, the potty is still going amazingly well. We have literally had four accidents since we started potty training exactly two weeks ago. Ella is in underwear at all times now aside from bedtime. At the doctor today she even told me "pee pee". I took her and immediately she peed a ton! We did have one accident today after drinking large amounts of water but with her feeling as lousy as she did that is to be expected. Way to go Ella!

Light it Up Blue

On the evenings of April 1 and 2, 2011, prominent buildings across North America and the world — including the Empire State Building in New York City and the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada — will turn their lights blue to raise awareness for autism and to commemorate World Autism Awareness Day on Saturday, April 2.

We’re aiming to light the world blue all throughout April — city by city, town by town — by taking action to raise autism awareness in our communities.

To kick off Autism Awareness month (whole month of April), Ella and I wore blue yesterday and even got a blue balloon at Red Robin. Hoping to find a blue light bulb today to be able to light up our front porch.







PS As you can see in the pics she was looking a little sick. shortly after these pics were taken, Ella came down with a 103 fever that we could not break over night. She's feeling a little better today and we made trip to the doctor. More to come in a separate blog later.