We're Back!

I have my computer back and ready to start blogging again!! Well like every one else, we have been enjoying this warmer weather the last few days. Ella played outside both days this weekend and we went to the park today! It was great to be outside again and feel the warmth of the sun. Ella had a great time at the park today and was running around like a crazy kid. It was so fun to see her do things that she wasn't able to do last year. I love watching her and seeing her play and try to connect with the other kids. She is very social and not shy at all. She was walking right up to kids today and asking what their name was and she was playing pretend with a girl she had just met. I'm glad that she interacts well, I was so shy as a kid and I'm glad she isn't like that.

We also were in Ohio a week ago to visit Marc's sister, her new baby and his Grandma. His sister and brother-in-law live in Toledo and just had a baby, Gabriel, in December. This was the first time we got to see him, he is adorable. It was fun to be around a little baby again.

Gabe, Almost 3 months old

Gabe was one reason we headed out there and the other was to go and visit Marc's Grandma Brash in Cincinnati. She is in nursing home there and it's only about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Toledo. So, we drove in on Friday and stayed with Rachael and Craig, then headed down to Cincinnati on Saturday to visit Grandma Brash. His Grandma is not in very good health and doesn't usually know we are even there. She was having a good day the day we went there and she was glad we were there. It's really hard to understand anything she is saying, but we know that she was happy to see us and to meet Gabe for the first time.

Grandma Brash meeting Gabe

Marc, Ella, Grandma, Rachael and Gabe

I was very proud of Ella the day we went to see Grandma Brash. I was worried how she was going to react to seeing her. It's not easy for a two year old to understand why she looks different, why she can't walk, and why her head is always hanging to one side. But, Ella was so good!!!! She said hi and tried to talk to Grandma a couple of times. Then she colored her a picture and even gave her a hug (the best she could) before we left. Plus, she was just overall good. Marc's aunt and uncle live close to the nursing home, so we went to their house afterwards and had dinner and hung out. It was nice to visit with them. Ella loved Uncle Steve's model train down in the basement. She could barely eat anything because she wanted to go and blow the whistle some more.

It was funny to see how Ella interacted, or ignored, the baby. She really didn't have much interest in him, but she thought she would like to try and hold him once (Gabe didn't really like that). All in all it was a good weekend, busy and lots of driving, but good. I'm glad that we got to finally meet Gabe and that we got to see Grandma Brash.

Giving Gabe a kiss

One more thing: Ella loves books, always has. Lately she is into "reading" them by herself. I'm usually impressed by how many words she actually remembers in the books. Well, we checked out Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see? from the library a few weeks ago and once we read it, she had to read it at least 3 times a day. Then one night she told us she was going to read it herself and she did. She had memorized almost all the words and we were able to catch it on video.