Slate Run Historic Farm

On Tuesday Eliana and I went to Slate Run Historic Farm with three other moms and their kids.  This is a farm in a metro park about half an hour from our home.  We had a blast!!  The weather was great and the kids were all in a good mood.  We couldn't have asked for a more perfect time.  The farm is run as it was over 100 years ago, and all of the workers are dressed in costume.  They had lots of animals that we could get so close to.  The kids really loved playing with the water and soap at the pump and playing with the old time toys in the farmhouse.  After the farm visit we ate a picnic lunch in the park.  I think we should eat every meal outside.  It doesn't matter when Eliana throws food on the ground and when she was done eating, she just ran around with her friends in the grass and I could finish my meal in peace.  Great Tuesday!

At first, Eliana was too involved with her snack to care too much about the animals.

Heading to the chicken coop with Morgan and her son Sam.

Checking out the "cluck clucks" (Eliana names most animals by the sounds they make).

Chatting with her friend Adele while hanging out with some chickens.

The girls liked sitting in these little child sized chairs on the porch of the farmhouse.

"Aren't these chairs great?!"

When I zoomed in on this picture, I realized that I had snapped a shot of Eliana munching on a rock.  Fun times!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day (a week late) to my lovely mother and my second mom Gloria, and to all those other mothers in my life!  Being a mother has been the hardest thing I have ever done (by far!) but also one of the most fun and most rewarding things that I have been blessed to do.  Eliana is my sweet sweet baby when she is sleeping and my crazy giggling monster when she is awake.  I read a little while ago that being a mom makes you more vulnerable.  It's so true.  Now a part of my heart is outside my body in this fragile little girl.  I want to hold her tight and keep her safe and secure in my arms forever.  I don't want her to get hurt falling off of the playground swing or have her heart broken by some silly boy.  I see danger lurking at every corner.  Now any time I hear of a tragedy or take care of a pediatric patient at work, I think, only by the grace of God was that not my child.  After the bombings in Boston, I had a nightmare that the three of us were living in Indianapolis again and terrorists were attacking the city.  We were driving in our car down the interstate and buildings were exploding to our right and left.  In my dream, I told David in a panic, "We have to go to the country! It's the only place where there aren't buildings that can be blown up!"  I woke up breathing heavily and I couldn't go back to sleep.  I've thought about that dream for a long time.  The thing is, even out in the country, even if there weren't buildings to blow up, there would be other things that could cause harm.  When a piece of your heart is outside your body, it is just so scary!  So I just have to cherish all the more the special moments that we have together.  Her tight hugs around my neck and loud wet kisses.  The scream giggles that she has when she sees a cat.  Her dancing and singing with David in the kitchen.  Her "mmmm" and toothy smile when she eats something yummy.  The way she carries all things with handles on her arm like a purse.  The weight of her warm body snuggled so close when she sleeps in my arms.  Yes, being a mother makes you so vulnerable because you love so much.  How have all these generations of mothers survived before me carrying so much around in their hearts?  God must give us women unbelievable strength to do this important task of being mothers.  I've said it many times before, but I am saying it again.  God has blessed me abundantly by giving me Eliana as a daughter. 

"And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart."  Luke 2:19

Naming Body Parts

With the warm weather, Eliana and I have been spending a lot of time outdoors.  One of our favorite places is the front porch.  Eliana loves to play a game where she sits in all of the chairs.  She runs up to a chair, says "Sit!" and then reaches up for you to help her into the chair.  After a minute, she says "Dah!" (which means down) and then has you help her jump out.  I don't know why she thinks that is so fun, but we play that game a lot.  Another game we play is naming the body parts.  She knows quite a few now including feet, hair, belly, eyes, nose, and teeth.  She can also say "nose" and "eye" and likes to point them out on Mommy and Daddy's faces too.  Check out the pictures below to see some of Eliana pointing out her body parts...

Happy to be outside!

Keeping an eye on the street for people walking their "woof woof" (aka dogs).

Eliana found her head or hair!

And this is what happens when you ask her to find her nose! It totally cracks me up that she sticks her finger all the way up her nose when you ask her to point it out.  This whole blog post was just an excuse to be able to post this picture!

She is either finding her mouth or trying to blow a kiss.

Hocking Hills

 David is on vacation this week, so our little family took a quick trip to Hocking Hills in south east Ohio.  We left Monday evening as soon as I got off of work to go to a cabin near the park.  The cabin was so peaceful!  We were out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by trees, chipmunks, birds, and a small creek.  It was a small bit of paradise to sit on the porch looking out on the trees, sipping a cup of coffee and listening to the babbling brook and my babbling daughter.  Eliana had a blast in the cabin, running around checking out all of the cabinets and nicknacks.  She really liked rocking in the rocking chair next to me this morning.  I can't even tell you in this post how beautiful it was!  We had a relaxed morning then went to Old Man's Cave to go hiking.  We recently purchased a Kelty KIDS hiking toddler carrier just for this trip.  Eliana was less than happy to be hauled around in the backpack, but she did ok.  Then for some reason about halfway through our hike, she decided the trip on my back was the most fun thing ever!  She started kicking her legs (ouch!) and giggling with joy.  So I would definitely consider the hike a success!  We really had a blast.  It was a wonderful little mini vacation.  I took so many pictures, so I really had a hard time cutting the number down for this post.  I hope you enjoy!

The view from our cabin porch.

Eliana sharing a peaceful morning with me.

On our hike at Old Man's Cave.  The backpack wasn't too uncomfortable and actually worked pretty well for carrying a toddler around.

Waterfall

A bridge we took over Hocking River

It was a beautiful hike!

You can see Eliana is having a great time back there.

We took a break in this clearing for lunch and to let Eliana run around for a while.

She found lots of things to explore.

We continued on our hike to Lower Falls.  Eliana wasn't so sure about the water at first.

But then David showed her how to skip rocks.

She thought that was amazing!

Now she kinda likes the water.

Eliana's eyes are closed, but it was the best we could do.

So I was about to publish this post when I realized that I didn't have any pictures of Eliana smiling.  I didn't want you to think she had a bad time, so I had to throw in one more picture.  She had a great time too!

Nice weather

Eliana and I spent an afternoon at Goodale Park a couple weeks ago when the weather was nice.

We went down the slide together.  Eliana was a little scared.

She thought this would be a better way to use the slide.

She ran up and down the sidewalk.

At first she wasn't so sure, but then she decided that she loved the wood chips

She loved them so much we had to take a few home with us in the stroller.  As we walked, she would drop them on the ground one by one, just like Hansel and Gretal and their bread crumbs.

After the park, we went to North Market for a treat.  I had a nutella crepe and she had cheddar bunnies (after she had a bite of nutella and decided it was gross).

As the weather gets nice, I think we will be spending a lot of time outside!  Eliana really likes to play with rocks, and even has a red one that she carries all over the porch.  Usually she will play with a rock and then move on to the next one pretty quickly.  Not this red rock.  She always likes to keep tabs on it.  So we call it her pet rock.  How funny the things kids really love!
And her stats, which I didn't post from earlier this month.  She had her 15month check-up.  Everything looked good.  She weighed in at 23lbs 9oz and was 30.5in tall.  That puts her in the 50th percentile.  She got more shots but did great with them.  Her 18 month appointment will be the last time she gets shots until kindergarten.  I'm sure Eliana will be happy about that!

Eliana's Second Easter

Hopefully you haven't been too worried about Eliana and her fever, since I didn't ever tell you she was feeling better.  She had a fever as high as 102.7 off and on for three days.  The poor thing looked so miserable.  She had a very runny nose and seemed wiped out.  Tuesday evening we were just sitting on the couch and she was laying on my chest.  Her eyes were watering, her nose was running, and she was drooling from mouth breathing.  She was a wet wet mess.  I just wanted to wrap my arms around her and make her feel all better.  Just as we were getting ready to take her to the pediatrician, she made a turn around and started doing better.  Eliana was able to go back to daycare on Friday (much to my relief and the relief of my coworkers) where she will probably pick up more germs and be sick another day.  It was good that this was a short lived illness because last Sunday was Easter and we had plans to go to Indy to celebrate with my family.  David had to work on Easter, so we left him here in Columbus to care for his patients.

Eliana had a great time celebrating!  She loved hunting Easter eggs.  Each time she grabbed one, she would giggle with joy.  In fact, she just loved to be outside and would laugh just from walking around in the grass. I also had a good time making a basket for her (along with a little help from Grandma Flanigan).  I think you might see my nursing background reflected in her basket.  Probably not too many Easter baskets have a toothbrush in them!

Eliana had so many things, she needed two baskets!

Two toothbrushes and toothpaste.  What a great Easter basket!

Easter morning

Checking out her gifts.

Eliana with her mommy

Eliana in her pretty Easter dress.

Easter Egg hunting!

 Happy Easter!  I hope you can celebrate the joy of Christ's resurrection every day, not just on Easter.  We are truly blessed!