I'm tired, too.

Maggie just woke up from her nap and after I picked her up she said, "Mama, be weally careful with my boo-boo. It's weally tired."

A different kind of milestone

I just wanted to tell you about Maggie's latest milestone. The day after her party Grant was swinging Maggie on her new swing when he thought he should try spinning her around in it. She loved it so she asked him to keep spinning her. After a minute he stopped but she asked for more! This happened several times. Finally Grant saw her looking a little green and said, "okay, we're done!" and got her out of the swing. We went inside and Maggie started crying. We couldn't figure out why she was crying until she coughed her very distinct "I'm-about-to-vomit" cough. We got her a bowl just in time! So, yes, Maggie has officially hit the "Spin-around-until-you-vomit" milestone!

Today we went to a cool new playground and when we left Maggie got very upset because she wanted to stay longer. She cried for several minutes and when I tried to distract her by talking about something else she said, "No, mama. I'm so sad and I don't want to stop crying!" She basically cried the rest of the way home and snapped out of it as soon as we got out of the car.

Maggie's polka dot birthday movie!

Grant put this video together with highlights from the birthday party. Enjoy!

Here are some more photos, as well.
Here is our living room, so you can see the polka dots that we hung up throughout the house.
Ben Griggs
Benton (Poppy) and Jack (notice even Jack has on polka dots!)
Here are some of our neighbors with Maggie:
Tiffany Dupree and Molly Griggs
Nana, Kajsa Perman, Chris White and Jim Landers

Maggie LOVED the coat Mimi and Poppy got her, and the shoes Grandaddy gave her and wanted to wear them out immediately. She insisted we go to Target to show them off, but settled for walking to the mailbox.
Here's just a funny photo from the other night. She likes to wear her sunglasses and we like to brush out her hair at the end of the night. We've taught her to shake her head to loosen up her "mane" and then roar like a lion.

Do the Polka!

Well, it's official: Maggie is two! Her Polka Dot-themed party was a huge success...and I never want to see another polka dot (just kidding). We had about 8 kids at the party this year (7 more than last year!), lots of adults, and lots of fun. Really everything was polka dots - I'd say about 75% of people wore polka dots on their clothing, the cake (which I made myself!) was 3 tiers with pink and green polka dots, and all the food was polka dot-shaped. We had sandwiches cut into circles, doughnut holes (good idea, Edison Dupree), hye rollers (rolled up sandwiches), and a veggie tray with all circular-shaped veggies - cherry tomatoes and cucumbers and carrots cut into circles.

Her biggest gift was a slide/playground and swing from all of her grandparents which she loves and we have logged many hours on it already.
Here are a few photos:
The swing and the playground in the background.

Opening presents. Check out all the polka dot gift wrap.

Grant's working on a video with footage from the party and I promise to post that as soon as it's finished.

We also had her two-year appointment with her pediatrician and she's bumped up to the 50th percentile for height (33 inches!) and 40th percentile for weight (25 lbs). He said everything looks good and he was very impressed with her vocabulary and verbal abilities. However, lest you feel that I think she's perfect, let me tell you about her new favorite activities: biting and pushing. She's been sent home from the YMCA nursery twice now (it's just their policy and they say it happens all the time. Still...) I have tried everything short of spanking and nothing seems to have made a difference. Anyone have any good tips? Meanwhile, send your kids over wearing body armor:)

She's also saying lots of funny things every day. Yesterday morning we were sitting with her in the living room and she said, "Could I get some privacy, please?" We cracked up and left her alone!

Here's a cute photo from Erin's house the other day:

We Remember

Several of you have asked about the Walk to Remember, so I thought I'd write a short post about it. There were definitely a few parts that were less than great, like the Celine Dion song performed and the cheesy poems read, but I'm glad we went. I plan on volunteering next year to make it better! It felt good just to see Elle's name written down and to know that the focus of the morning for my family was to remember her.

The walk itself was short but nice, and afterwards everyone there (about 60 or 70 people) walked to a small field for the balloon release. Everyone there was given a tag for their baby on which they could write his or her name and a message, and then we tied them to the balloons. We had a pink balloon for Elle, but people had blue balloons for their boy babies, and white balloons if they didn't know the baby's gender (like if the baby was miscarried too early to determine gender). Looking around the field at all those balloons bobbing in the wind and knowing that each one represented a real person, however small, was just overwhelming. The event organizer read each baby's name, and as the name was read, that baby's family released their balloon. The balloons flew up into the sky, becoming smaller and smaller until they faded away. I don't know why but it felt important to me to watch each balloon until I could no longer see it. While we were standing there I also took my time to remember each of the babies lost by my friends and people I know who were unable to be there. Although I don't talk about Elle often (besides to Grant) I think that's one of the things that's most important to me: that she is not forgotten. I guess I was just trying to make sure the other babies weren't forgotten, either.

Thanks for reading this and remembering her.

Just a little something

Several of you have been asking for suggestions for a birthday gift for Maggie. She loves to play house so check out this idea.

Is it just me or do those kids look a little creepy and Stepford-esque?

But let's not be silly. Why spend $9000 on a playhouse when you could have a nice, little playground? I'd say it's worth the price tag. After all, it does have a jail house, fire pole, and club house!

A Walk To Remember

No, I'm not talking about the movie. I just wanted all of you in Nashville to know about the Walk to Remember that will take place October 6 in Franklin. The Walk to Remember is for anyone who has lost a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth, or early infant loss. Our daughter, Elle, would have been 3 this October 24th and I'm really looking forward to publicly remembering her and celebrating her existence.

If you know anyone who might want to participate, please direct them to the Walk to Remember website where they'll find more information.