Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Christmas picture outakes : )



I was trying to take this picture at our church on Sunday morning. Hunter would not stop kissing Ella. Normally sweet, right then all I wanted him to do was smile at the camera!








Love Ella's face!













My husband's pick for our Christmas cards.











Lovely.












And finally our winner. Never mind that neither kid is looking at the camera. But this was the only one with 2 smiles and 4 eyes open. So, there you have it!!!




Okay, so let me start by saying that I am incredibly stressed!!! We have a very good chance of moving to Spokane, WA in about 25 days. Of course this is all depending on the Air Force (surely they will finally take pity on us and actually do what we are requesting) Chris has asked for an early out (9 weeks) at the request of the Spokane Police Dept so he can get into the Feb academy. I am excited about moving but 1. I am not emotionally prepared to leave all of the wonderful people that I know here and 2. I hate packing 3. I don't want to drive with our 2 kids 1700 miles 4. We don't know where we are going to live 5. I don't want to unpack and OH YEAH we don't even know for sure that Chris has the job so I'm a little freaked out about it all.
I am trying to start packing the house and get rid of a bunch of stuff. But little Miss Thing has decided that she no longer wants to take naps. That's right my 15 month old has not napped for 4 days straight. Normally not a horrible thing, given that she is incredibly happy these days, but when you are trying to get things done and she is getting into EVERYTHING it kind of makes things hard.
Ella has been SO happy lately. I don't know if it a coincidence or it is because of the ear tubes but she has been extremely vocal, very loud, and has been laughing a lot. I dare to say that her breathing is a lot quieter too, could it be from her tubes????
My grandparents are coming on Friday so we are excited about that! They will be a huge help because they can occupy the kiddos while I get some stuff done!! YAY!!!
I think my mom has watched my video montage 50 times, every time I talk to her she says she has watched it again, which makes me laugh. My mom was talking to my new sister-in-law the other day and asked her if she had watched the video, which she had. She told my mom that she had been thinking a lot lately about her and Dustin (my little brother) having a baby and the possibility that they could have a baby with Down syndrome or some other disability and how that now because of Ella she knows they could handle it. That makes me feel so good. I mean really isn't that what we all want. One of my goals in life is to tell as many people as possible about Ella and that because of her they see that a child with special needs is just as wonderful as a typical child. Not to say that it's all a walk in the park, but it's wonderful. I know that I have said this before but I wish that when Ella was born I had known all that I know now. That is my only regret. I feel like I missed bonding moments with Ella in those first few weeks to months. So, I just want people to know that things will be okay and your life can change in the blink of an eye but it is all for the better. I don't know if any of that makes any sense at all, it's almost 1am and I can barely keep my eyes open but I felt a need to post.

6 comments:

Melanie said...

It makes perfect sense! I wish that when Logan was born, especially right after he was born, that I would looked at him as the perfect little boy he is..instead of the feelings I had. It WAS hard to bond at first. All I could think about was the DS. I regret not being happy and taking tons of pictures etc. We even turned away our visitors...which was wrong..we just didn't want to face reality and we didn't want others to see us upset. What a shame...I wish I would have known what I know now...because I would have invited everyone I know to come see us at the hospital...
I know how you feel and your new optimism really helps me. Thanks.

Laurie said...

Wow. There was a lot in that post!
1- LOVE the outtakes! I laughed out loud!
2- Good luck on your move...moving is hard to begin with, and it sound slike you have lots of extras going on that makes this an incredibly daunting process...you can do it!
3- I have to say that because you shared Ella's story, you helped me through some really rough times. You've touched more peoples' lives than you know :)

Jennie said...

Kacey - Thanks for posting on my blog. Ella Grace is beautiful. And she looks so much like Hunter. The outtakes are priceless! I hope your move goes well. You mentioned that you don't think you could have handled a pre-natal diagnosis... but I think you could have. I'm hoping that by doing some of our grieving early on, we'll be able to be more joyful when our little guy is born (though I'm not looking forward to our lengthy NICU stay).
Please keep in touch.

Amy Flege said...

first of all i hope the moving thing all works out for you! exciting for sure! secondly..... NO NAPS???? I dont know what I would do if Mayson quit taking naps! Maybe its a short faze or something!!!
Thirdly, isnt it amazing how our kids touch others and pave the way for them as well???

Michelle said...

What great pictures - and the kids look like they're having so much fun!

Liesl said...

let us know how to help your transition go more smoothly! i am already looking at churches on the web--we want you to find a church that will love you as much as all of us do (and teach you TRUTH)!