Grandmother Turns 90!!

This weekend my wonderful Grandmother turned 90. We had a big bash to celebrate at my Aunt Linda's house. They had a huge blow up water slide for the kids, a bounce house and baby pool as well to entertain the like 30 or so great grandchildren of my Grandmother, under the age of 16. Inside we had a beautiful pink cake, fruit, cupcakes and so many more yummy treats that all had 90 on them in pink, my grandmother's fav color. Her two sisters came in from out of state and it was nice to see them and have them together again as well. It was a great party for a wonderful lady.

I love my grandmother so much! She loved to travel when she was younger and even took me on two trips, my grandfather did not want to go on. We went to Memphis to see Elvis and to Washington DC to see the sights there. I loved both trips and will cherish those special memories forever. I also remember growing up and her reading to me in the front porch swing. I always made her read me "Miss Susy" and "Harry the Dirty Dog", no matter how many times I asked she read them. I know have the copy of "Miss Susy" that she read to me and it is very special. I am looking forward to the day Emma can sit that long and listen to it. It is a great book about a squirrel:)

I am proud to call her Grandmother and hope to someday be as kind-hearted as she is and as Godly as her as well. She is an amazing lady who has lived a long time and was married for over fifty years before my Grandfather passed away. Such a testiment to love. She loves pink and I smile everytime I wear it or Emma does because I think of her. Her is to many more memories with Grandmother Clark!! Love you Grandmother and thanks for loving me and my family. Without you I would be lost!

here are some great photos from that day

Tuttus and Tears

Four and half years ago I found out I was having a girl through an ultrasound. I admit I started dreaming of ballet classes, princess crowns and pink hairbows. (I did think of soccer and basketball too but not at first). I had dreams of her first recital and seeing her all dressed up in her first ballet costume.

April 6th of 2006 I welcomed my beautiful daughter into this world vie C-section. I remember holding her while I still laid on the OR table and thinking she was perfect. We knew she might have kidney issues but all I saw was a small bundle with sole searching blue eyes. I still clung to my ballet dreams as they finished my surgery and I waited to really get to meet my daughter in recovery.

Soon after those precious moments at her birth, the world tilted and everything got sideways as we began our journey of medical issues with Emma. The dreams of her dancing were soon put on the back shelf in a dark closet and replaced with hospital visits, surgeries, trips to so many specialist my head hurts trying to count how many, and trips to one therapy or another.

Four years later, I finally got to dust those old dreams off and bring them into the light. Today Emma went to her first ballet class!! She put on her "pretty" as she calls her leotard and her little pink socks (can't find ballet slippers in her size) and we headed off to town. She was so excited, we had been reading ballet books all week and talking about it. She was nervous when we first go into the school and climbed the stairs with her walker in tow, but she quickly got over it. Luckily a little girl from our storytime was also in the class and she followed her to go stand on her star and follow what the teacher did. I sat in the back trying so hard to not bawl like a baby in a room full of strangers. I was so proud of my pretty ballerina in her pink tuttu and her shiny silver walker helping her move. My own tiny little ballerina!!!

I will never forget these first 45 minutes of dance class, as I watched my little girl get to be a girl and learn first position and how to raise up on her toes. I will forever hold tucked into my heart watching her follow the teacher as she showed them a dance with a blue scarf and she copied every move she made. I will be able to cling to those precioius memories the next time things get tough and medically scary. She was not able to do everything like her friends due to the limitations of her walker but she did her best and adjusted the skills to her own needs and I was beaming with pride. She did not get all shy and scared she smiled and loved every minute. Her teacher quickly figured out how to manuver her in and out of the walker and I only had to help once which was nice to see her interact with a new person and trust the teacher in the room. She has come so far from only trusting family.

She loved it so much she did not want to take off her outfit and I had to put it back on after her diaper change in the trunk of the car, and she wore it proudly to show her Meme and Pop how we were meeting. She even wore it to Target with Pop before it got wet and had to be taken off. When Daniel got home tonight she told him in her few words about it and showed him her book that told about Ballet and then pointed to herself and said pretty!! Then, after dinner she showed him her ballet moves and stretches from today. It was so sweet! He will hopefully get to go one class and see her be a tiny princess too.

Her class runs for six weeks and we will see from there. We really did this to allow her to work on her muscles and her social skills in a new and fun way. She loves dancing and music at school so we thought it would be a great fit and it seems to been a success so far. No matter what happens at the end of this class I will always remember today and be forever grateful for God allowing us to bring a dream put away out and life it to the fullest. She may never be a prima ballerina but she will always be my tiny ballerina!! So brave and so smart. Her smile today will always been in my heart.

Like I said tears and tuttus!

Emma loves her Daddy!

Here are a few photos that show how Emma loves her daddy! They go from now to the beginning of thier relationship. As you can tell they love each other a lot!










Wow! It seems like only yesterday I took that photo of Daniel laying his head by Emma while she was in the NICU at Vandy. Still makes me cry to see how much love he had for her from day one. He is a great dad and Emma is so lucky to have him. Happy Father's day to a special dad.

First Week

Emma did wonderful at her first week of Speech and Language class. I was more nervous then she was. I did have to walk her down to the room and do a drop and run while she screamed, but they reported she quit as soon as she saw the puzzles to play with. She already is talking with them which is huge. Emma normally does not speak around people she does not know, but I assume she realizes they are teachers like her old teachers were. Daniel took her the second day, while I worked, and said she told her friends good bye as they loaded onto their buses. (some kids ride school buses, but not Emma) So, all in all it went well and we are looking forward to seeing her make progress throughout the summer.

She is already talking so much more then a year ago, or even six weeks ago. She is speaking in two to three word phrases which is huge for us, and more and more people can understand her. It is so much fun to actually be able to talk to her and have her respond a lot of the time now with real words. She still does not make sense sometimes but it is so much better. We are still using some signs which really helps and we use a picture card book as well. We use every type of communication we can to help her be understood. Now, we just have to work on her not using her Whiney voice as we call it.

It is really hot in Nashville already so we are starting to spend time in water or inside whenever we can. We bought her a new pool Sunday and can not wait to bust it out. Last week, we did get out her boat to splash in, but she is almost to big. WE bought her boat when she was one, it is really a float but for almost three summer's she has sat in it and played. It is a great boat and it cost a dollar. So we really got our money's worth. I am sad she is out growing it:( But we have great photos of her in it throughout the last few summers. We headed to the splash pad in my home town today and Emma had a great time, chasing Hudson (her cousin) around int he water. She was able to use her walker and go where she wanted and that was great. She looked so cute in her water shoes and bathing suit in her walker. So, nice to have her be able to be like her friends and splash in the water without me having to hold her the whole time. She loves being independent whenever she can.



On the doctor front we were released from her eye doctor on Thursday!!! yeah!!! No major issues and she has perfect vision, despite the fact that she does have pigment variations in her eyes as well as her skin. But he has followed her from birth and feels that if she was going to have problems she would already have showed them. So till we see vision issues we are free of one more doctor. (we have only been released from like three so this is great)

Lots going on but loving it all!!

Love Rachel

Silly Saturday Photos!