A Quick Trip to Nashville

While Jesse is home, we decided to take a quick trip over to Nashville so he could see some of his extended family and some friends. Our first stop was dinner with Bill (Poppi) and Cindy (Pippa) Mason. Ellie got spoiled with some new toys and had fun climbing in chairs and visiting with everyone around us. It was a fun dinner with the Mason's and Ellie loves the new toys she got from them. The next visit was with our friends, Jason & Lena Cox, who we stayed with that evening. It's always a guaranteed good time visiting with them. Ellie was able to play the piano for the first time, mainly wanting to touch the lowest and highest keys after some random pounding. The next morning, we drove over to Nana's (Jesse's grandmother) house for a few hours and Ellie had a ball playing there. It was great to catch up with Nana and let her have some time with Ellie without all the craziness of a packed house. Jesse was also able to visit his grandfather's grave (his dad's dad) since he was unable to make the funeral in April. We met Uncle Jeff (Jesse's dad's brother) for a lunch visit to catch up with him and then headed back to Knoxville afterwards. We were sad not to be able to see everyone, but it was a productive visit and Ellie was a trooper!

7th Wedding Anniversary

Jesse and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on June 26th. We were lucky enough to be able to be together for it as it was (lucky #7 I guess). We ended up having a little dinner date on our short Cincinnati trip to a restuarant close to my brother's house that we highly recommend to anyone visiting Cincinnati. It's a local Italian place called Betta's. My brother and his wife have spent some of their anniversary's going to this place and so it came highly recommended and didn't disappoint! I am so blessed to be married to my very best friend and I am more in love with him every day. I hate that we will spend most of the next year of our marriage apart, but God has blessed us so much and I know he will return to celebrate our 8th anniversary together! Thank you Lord for an amazing husband - I am blessed!

Meeting Langston Kate

In late June, Jesse and I were able to schedule a quick trip up to Cincinnati to meet my new niece. Langston Kate Hardwick was born on March 22nd when she was only 30 weeks in the womb. Jennifer (the trooper Mom) had preeclampsia that developed quickly and caused her to have to deliver Langston early. She was a fighter and was in the NICU until May 10th. Now, she is a thriving, adorable little girl that has made it through such a hard ordeal with flying colors. Langston is a really good mixture of both Jonathan and Jennifer.

I was so happy to finally meet her after all the restrictions being lifted due to her immune system building up. It was also really neat to see my brother as a new dad. He's really patient and loving with this miracle baby. So happy to have this new addition to the Hardwick Family! :)

18 Months Old!

What a milestone! After having Ellie's 18 month check-up and shots, she weights 25 lbs and is over 32 inches tall. Such a big girl! Lots has changed over the last month, including having her daddy home, and even Jesse commented on how much she has changed and grown in the last few weeks. Here are some of the changes:

1. Ellie will no longer sit in a high chair in a restaurant - it's either a booster seat or on the regular seat like a big girl. It was like a switch went off and she just couldn't be confined like that any longer.

2. She has added at least 4 more teeth to the mix (all 4 dagger teeth are about 1/2 way in).

3. Her vocabulary is growing weekly - Dada is now Daaayee, Memememe is now Mom, etc. Also, she is now saying words like kitty, bye bye, bear, all done, cheese and Boz. Of course, none of them sound the way you read it, but we at least are expanding the communication!

4. She ate something "bad" and had a throw-up weekend which was no fun for mommy and daddy. She also had an abscess that we had to take her in for recently and she was a total trooper with the doctor.

5. She drinks her milk by herself while she walks around instead of sitting in Mommy's lap (sigh).

6. She has had 3 swim lessons and is really starting to catch on to the pool.

7. She loves playing outside with her mini-pool and gardening tools.

8. She's back to eating lots of fruit and even has a "fruit dance" that she does when she eats it.

It has been so great having Daddy home to share all of these new things with us. Ellie is totally smitten with him and calls his name looking for him when he's not around. This next goodbye is going to be a tough one - she is very aware of his presence or lack thereof. We can't believe that she is this old already, but we are enjoying every minute of it! Praise God for a Daddy at home and a healthy, happy little girl!

He's Back! (Temporarily)

For those of you that might read my blog and not my husbands, the reasons for Jesse being home can be found on his blog (realtnvolunteer.blogspot.com) so catch up! It has been a great time for Jesse to be home with us and we are cherishing EVERY moment. I wanted to post this video - proof of a little change since Daddy left in April!

More Videos for Jesse

Ellie's New trick on Daddy's chair

Ellie eating with a fork but being surprised by a tomato

Ellie eating her dinner with a fork like a BIG girl

Ellie eating her lime that she couldn't put down for a second

Videos for Jesse

The best way for Jesse to see videos of Ellie is through my blog, so I'm posting a few funny videos of her recently.

Grammie's game of chasing the ball with Ellie

Ellie walking in Mommy's shoes

Ellie & Kinsley hugging