It all starts tonight! I am so excited!  Kenny and I are sad that he is still in Las Vegas and we are unable to watch the Open Ceremonies together.  The Olympics are always something we both get really into together.  So I will anxiously await his return. Until then, I will be glued to the television.  I love all the drama and stories of the athletes.

What is your favorite event?

18 MONTHS AND 3 DAYS

18 Months and 3 Days.  18 MONTHS AND 3 DAYS! 

That is how long we have been waiting for Elle to take her first steps. I have started so many posts on Elle not walking it is crazy but I have always stopped myself. I am not sure why.  It just seemed really personal.  

If you have read this blog for a while you know that Elle was five weeks early.  She saw a physical therapist consistently for 7 months for a little bit of motor skill delay and some torticollis and then the therapist, Kenny and I all decided that Elle seemed to have "caught up" so we stopped going.

In hindsight, we should of continued to see the therapist.  Elle did not crawl until after a year old and then it was on her belly. So, late. Then she graduated to crawling on her knees and she is really really good at it.  People comment on how fast she is all the time.  Her poor little knees stay permanently bruised from her primary mode of getting around.

Around the end of May (16 months) she started pulling up and cruising a little bit. Really late. Our pediatrician had TEIS (Tennessee Early Intervention Services) contact us.  They evaluated Elle and did not find that she was behind in anything but motor skills and she did not qualify. It was around that same time that I got in touch with a girl I knew from college who had also treated Elle in the NICU and we started seeing her weekly for physical therapy again.  Just having her teach me things to do to help Elle build up her muscles and learn new skills that will help her walk has helped so much.  Morgan, our PT diagnosed Elle with some low muscle tone so she needed "work outs" to help her build up her strength. 

I should note that her motor skill delay is her only area of delay.  She is completely fine with language and fine motor skills.  Just this silly walking.  We kept saying to ourselves "well we know she won't crawl into kindergarten. She'll walk one day."

And then yesterday, at her 18 month check up, Elle took her first steps in the well baby room waiting to see the doctor!  I was so excited! She was so excited! Morgan just happened to have a session yesterday afternoon and so she took this video so I could send it to Kenny to see along with everyone else to has heard me complain talk and talk about Elle not being able to walk.

We still have a long way to go before Elle is toddling all over the place (who knows when she will run or skip or hop)  but these first few steps were such a long time coming that we are just so happy for her!!  

LAS VEGAS GETAWAY

So it seems I took another blog hiatus but I had a good excuse.  I have been in Las Vegas living it up for a few days with Kenny. Kenny travels to Las Vegas twice a year for furniture market.  He definitely knows his way around since every time he goes he spends quite a few days there, we thought it was time he introduced me to the city.

We flew out a few days early before market started with a one of our favorite couple friends Madeline and Ryan (Ryan works with Kenny too) and I feel like I definitely got good feel for the city.  We did a whole lot.  We were busy. And I am pretty tired as I type this.  

Note: I have included all the links to the places we saw and ate so if you are planning a trip there you can check out the places yourself.  

Just  a few of my favorite pictures that I took with Kenny over the vacation.

I was so excited to get to eat at Pink Taco at the Hard Rock for lunch.  Kenny goes there and talks about it all the time.  I love Mexican food and Pink Taco did not disappoint.  I would definitely recommend it.  Please pardon my greasy hair in this picture.  We had just finished up at the spa and my masseuse had run his lotioned hands all through my hair.  I enjoyed the head massage but my hair was gross. I also got a body polish that was amazing and made my skin feel so soft.

The first night we were there we ate at a sushi restaurant at the Bellagio.  It was called Yellowtail.  The restaurant itself got mixed reviews from us for several reasons but they had a patio/balcony that overlooked the Bellagio Fountain show so we had a our own private viewing.  Seeing the fountain show was high on my to do list and it was beautiful!

We tried to meander through most of the hotels and casinos.  I quickly decided that I adore the Wynn.  It is so pretty.  Kenny and Ryan were drooling over their golf course and we made a point to return on the last night for the two light shows they do at the fountain in the picture above. The drink was the best cocktail I enjoyed the whole time.  It was a Strawberry And Grapefruit Collins. It was delicious!

Madeline and I before dinner/Kenny and I/ Me Being Silly 

The second night we were there we ate at Stack.  It is a restaurant at the Mirage which is where we stayed for our visit.  It was really good and was neat inside.  Kenny and I ended up getting a bunch of appetizers as our meal. After dinner we hit up the Revolution Bar for some pre-show drinks.  It was there where we had a fun little photo shoot.

Then it was time for LOVE! I was so excited to see this show! Who doesn't love Beatles music and our seats were amazing.  You have to go see this show if you are in Las Vegas.  I seriously don't know anyone who has seen it that didn't enjoy it.  My favorite number was Lucy in The Sky with Diamonds. Kenny has already seen O but we are already planning to go see that the next time I come.

These are just some of our pictures from sight seeing.  The one by the waterfall is the 18th green at the Wynn's golf course.  Kenny is dying to play there.  Then the right upper corner is kind of funny.  Kenny and all the furniture guys always talk about these amazing ribs at this seedy casino called Ellis Island.  Every cabby will tell you to go eat there for great CHEAP food and they brew their own beer.  I was dying to see what the ribs were all about but couldn't quite convince everyone to go there for dinner.  BUT we did stop by and see the place.  I felt like a picture in front of their sign was in order.  They guys usually go there at least twice when they are in town for market.

The bottom two pictures were from the Secret Garden Exhibit at the Mirage. They have a dolphin training center and they don't do shows but they do training exhibits where dolphins and trainers do amazing things.  Also on exhibit are some of Siegfried and Roy's cats from their show. Its a small little zoo and you get really close to the cats.  We asked the people there and the cat that attacked Siegfried is displayed at different times but under a different name.  Kenny was convinced we saw that cat. Ha!

The top picture was from our last night. We were so worn out. We took long afternoon naps after laying out by the pool and then got dressed for dinner and went to see the Treasure Island Pirate Show. We watched like 15 minutes of it (if that) and left.  It was kind of stupid and I do not suggest bringing your children.  Keeping with the theme of Vegas, it is very racy. After the Pirate Show we walked over to the Wynn and Madeline and Kenny were wanting to eat crab legs so we ended up at the Wynn's The Buffet.  I recommend this.  It was inexpensive but still pretty upscale for a buffet.  The crab legs were pre-cracked, (the only reason I ate any) the rest of the food was pretty good and the dessert room was like being in the Willy Wonka candy factory.  Every single dessert you could want and they were delicious.  Not your standard buffet dessert bar. It was perfect place to eat when you were worn out like we were and just wanted no fuss.

Other places we ate throughout the vacation: Sugar Factory, Breakfast Buffet at the Mirage, BLT at the Mirage, Carnegie Deli at the Mirage

Kenny and I had such a fantastic time together and I was so sad to have to leave him behind but I was also soooooo ready to get home to Elle.  We missed her so much!!

DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD...CRYING

This morning things were a little crazy trying to get out of the house for music class.  We were making up a class and were going to the midtown class about 20 minutes away.  I was trying to get myself ready and found Elle in her nursery rubbing her night time lotion all through her hair.  So I stripped her down and washed her hair while she sat on the sink counter. Normal toddler stuff ha!

So we trek over to Midtown and as we are going in the door I am seeing all these mothers leave with their children.  I got nervous.  Walked in and saw our music teacher, Joe.  "There isn't a 10:30 class is there?"  Nope.  The class was at 9:30.  In a completely out of character move I had confused my days and times.  When we went back to the car and I started to put Elle in her carseat she threw a ginormous fit.  She was soooooooo upset that we weren't going to music class. We already walked in and saw Joe and all the other kids, plus I had been talking about music class all morning.

So we pull out of the church parking lot and she is screaming and hiccuping and coughing.  She was crying hard. I felt guilty.  So I cried.  Guilt always makes me cry and I felt like it was my fault she didn't get to go to music class.  Silly, I know.  I know in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter and I probably wouldn't even cry about it on another day.  But here we were. Driving down the road both crying. I WISH I could say this was the first time this happened. And it never fails, every time we are having one of these teary car rides, Kenny calls.  I laugh at myself through the tears knowing how ridiculous it all sounds and try to not alarm him and tell him what happened and he is always kind of freaked out at all the emotion happening in our Murano and hangs up quickly.

Luckily, CC and I had talked about getting Elle a new little doll that she loved at a friend's house.  So we hightailed it to the toy store.  New baby dolls make mommy and Elle feel much better.

I realized at some point I can't lose it and cry every time Elle is disappointed over something.  I know it is part of life and "builds character." My happiness is so entertwined with her's and Kenny's it is crazy.

UHHHH.....HELLO

Wow.  Not sure what happened.  I did not intetionally plan a blog break.  I think it all started when we went to the river/lake for the weekend with friends(and had an absolute blast) and I didn't take any pictures so I felt like I couldn't blog about it.  Silly, I know.

Well, we have been busy.  So here is a little bit of what we have been up to.

 Enjoying a little post parent's day out/pre nap snuggle time.

 Going to an Elmo themed sprinkler birthday party for our favorite play buddy Loftin.  

Lindsay really outdid herself with all the creative touches.  

 Elle and Lizzie cooling off in the pool at the birthday party.

Doing a little pretend grocery shopping with baby doll in tow. CC (my mom) bought Elle a grocery cart and some Melissa and Doug play food and she is loving it!

Kenny gave me tickets to see Darius Rucker and Lady Antebellum in concert for Mother's Day and the concert was lat week! Despite the heat we had the best time.  I love doing things like that for date night.

We went down to Fairhope to see Kenny's parents for the weekend. We had such a fun time and ate so many great meals including brunch at Tamara's. Bottomless mimosas and belgium waffles YUM!!!  Breakfast is my favorite meal by far.

 Sharing some ice cream with daddy.

 Spent LOTS of time watching the Olympic trials! I am soooooooo excited for the games to start.  

Elle seemed pretty interested too.

 I made these festive and silly easy skewers for the BBQ we attended for the 4th of July.  They were a hit and I would definitely make them again.  No instructions needed ha!

Spending time at the BBQ trying not to overheat with Tracy and little Baby Shearin due to make his appearance in October.

 The best family portrait we could manage.  Only wearing our bloomers of course.  After a dip in the pool it was just to hot for a frilly shirt.

Happy 4th of July from Elle! Hope everyone had a fantastic holiday!