Happy First Birthday, Mila!

On March 12th we all went to Chicago to celebrate Mila's FIRST birthday! What a fun day we had! We spent a few hours at Joel and Kelly's place eating great food, playing with bubbles (the theme of the party) and just celebrating Mila. Rebecca and Brad had a hotel for the night so we went to their hotel for pizza and swimming in the pool before we headed back to Michigan. What a fun day celebrating Mila and spending time with family!

2 months...then 12:08 am

I love a good challenge. And I'm competitive. Colin and I rarely argue, but when we do it's often during a game of mini-golf, Mario Kart or anything else where one of us gets the chance to trash-talk the other. :) I told Colin that I wasn't going to buy one stitch of children's clothing for all of January and February. If you know me, you know that I hardly go two weeks without buying something for one of the kids, much less two MONTHS! Colin didn't think I could do it...so I HAD to do it. I had to "win" by showing him I could do it. He really won because I didn't spend any money for two months, but we'll still consider me the clear winner. It wasn't too difficult, but there were times. In early January there are tons of sales as the winter stuff gets moved out. Usually I buy ahead for next year. I bought nothing. Abigail has holes in a bunch of leggings and decided to start wearing jeans. Normally I'd buy a few new pairs of leggings and jeans. Instead, my mom mended a few pairs of the leggings and we washed the jeans she has more often. The kids really, really needed new socks. A great friend gave us some that she was going to donate. I realized that my first thought was often just to go buy a replacement or something I thought I "needed." If nothing else, the two months reminded me not to impulse buy, but to see if there are other solutions and/or give it a little time to see if what I think I "need" is really necessary.

That being said...at 12:08 am on March 1 I purchased this awesome bathing suit and swim cap from Gymboree. It came yesterday and Johanna couldn't wait to try it on. She then left it on for about two hours. It's so fricken cute on her...it was definitely a great first off-the-wagon purchase. This girl is ready for Florida!

Abigail Learning to Sew

My mom has been getting some serious use out of her old Singer lately. She's been whipping out adorable pillowcase dresses for the girls and doing some mending for me as well. Abigail still gets picked up by Grandma Rita every Friday and gets to spend some time with her. For the past two weeks they have been sewing. My mom took her to the fabric store and let her pick out any fabric she wanted to make a pillowcase. It should be noted that my mom tried to persuade her to get something pink or flowery or really, anything cute, but Abigail had her mind made up the minute she saw something with dolphins on it! They went home and my mom patiently taught Abigail how to sew a pillowcase, complete with nice finished edges and everything! What I really admire about my mom is that she is so incredibly patient. It would be so easy to just say "I'll just do it, you watch" or just let her practice on scrap fabric. My mom doesn't do that though, she takes time and lets Abby do everything by herself. The end result is not only a great (slightly gaudy) pillowcase, but also self-confidence for Abby as well as a new memory for Grandma and Abigail. Thanks for teaching her, Mom!

Llama Llama Red Pajama

We gave Johanna the book Llama Llama Red Pajamas for Christmas this year. To say that she's obsessed with the book would be an understatement. She LOVES this book. We read it around a dozen times a day. Of course we read it with tons of expression which she loves even more. She can't say "Llama" yet so she says "Samma" instead. She repeatedly comes up to me and says "Samma, samma" all day until I read it to her. We just ordered Llama Llama Misses Mama and Llama Llama Mad at Mama from Henry's book order so that I can hopefully just read the original a couple of times a day.

If you aren't familiar with these books, you should really check them out! They are definitely cute!

Nella Hampton

I don't remember how, but about a year ago I was introduced to the blog, Enjoying the Small Things. On January 22, 2010 Kelle and Brett had their second daughter, Nella. She was born with Down Syndrome and they did not know she would be. The birth story of Nella, written by Kelle, is probably one of the most beautiful birth stories I've ever read. I've read it so many times and each time tears stream down my face. I've continued to follow Kelle's blog over the past year. She's a talented writer, an amazing photographer and her views of life are inspiring.

Go ahead, read Nella's story, meet their family.

Nella turns one on January 22. Her family is having a big party for her. They are raising money for the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) calling it "Nella's ONEder Fund." Kelle's original goal was to raise $15,000. After 12 hours of the fundraiser she changed her goal to $30,000 because of the amazing response. You can read the post about it here.

Won't you consider making a donation? On behalf of Nella (because if you've read her story I don't know how you can't!) or on behalf of any of the other children you know with Down Syndrome? Times are tough for everyone, but even $1 would make a difference.

Nella's ONEder Fund Donation Page