"ELPPPP!"

I posted an update yesterday and Ms. Keri posted a comment that I forgot to mention Hope's new word... Help. She pronounces it "ELPPPPPPPPP!" The "H" is silent and the "P" is so exaggerated, sometimes she spits from pressing her lips together so hard!! It is so funny! She uses the word correctly too! When she needs "ELP" getting in a chair or on the bed and when she is having a hard time opening a toy. I will try to get a video of it because it is really precious!!

Tee Tee in the Potty!!!!

Okay, Ms. Keri just called me to say Hope made Tee Tee in the Potty!! YEAH!!! Ms. Keri is so wonderful!! And Brave too!! She has Laney, Ella and Hope all potty training at the same time!! She said it is easier to do several kids at one time as the peer pressure at this age is actually a good thing!! Even though I haven't put Hope on her potty in over a month, we have been working on our "potty" sign (sign language). Keri is using this for all the other kids too and Ella went up to Ms. Keri last week and did the "potty" sign and sure enough, she had #2 potty in her pants. It is really amazing how these kids can sign at such a young age!!
Just the other day, we were driving to Granny and Popo's house and she saw the cows on the side of the road and started doing the sign for "cow". Once we got there, she saw the birds flying overhead and did the sign for "bird".

She is also starting to talk too! Last night, we went to Austin's band recital and she was saying "Austin" the whole way there. Then when we got there and she saw Granny and Popo; she called "Popo" twice and then said "Ranny" without any prompting!
I love listening to what she has to say. I always wonder what goes on in that little brain of hers!!

She has also mastered the slide at Ms. Keri's. It is amazing to me what she can do and I absolutely love watching her grow! She climbs up there all all by herself and sits down and slides down. Ms. Keri is standing guard in case she needs a little help, which sometimes she does as she can get a little wobbly. I can't even begin to describe the feelings I get when I watch her do or say something new! If you don't believe in God and miracles, have a child. You can't help but think of God when you see your own flesh and blood growing and learning right before your eyes! It is truly amazing!!

I know I haven't posted anything in a while... life has been so busy.
A week or so ago, Hope woke up one morning and we put her in bed with us for a few minutes to snuggle before we started our daily routine. We immediately noticed she was very hot and probably had a temperature, but still wanted to snuggle for a few minutes first before taking her temperature. Almost immediately she did the sign for "hurt". She was telling us she hurt!! Isn't that amazing??!! I took her temperature and it was in fact 102 degrees, so we called the Dr. Since the Swine Flu pandemic, the dr's are having anyone with a fever over 101 to go in and get swabbed. Our regular Dr was out of town, so we went to another doctor who told us she had an ear infection and put her on antiboitics. This was to be her first ear infection... or so we thought. That night, she got up to 103.7!! Very scary!! On day three, she was still running fever, so we went back to the Dr (our regular Dr. this time) and she said Hope didn't have an ear infection, her ears looked perfect. So she took blood an urine samples and everything came back fine, so she said it must be something viral and we just had to let it run its course. She took us off the antiboitics- no need for them since there wasn't any infection. I stayed home Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with her and we had such a great time. You would have had a hard time telling she was sick, she was laughing and in such a good mood. We really needed this as I had been working a lot over the past few weeks.

Last Friday, we had a huge scare. Papa was in a motorcycle accident. He is doing much better and in fact is headed home today and expected to make a full recovery!! He had an angel on his shoulder that day and we are so blessed!! Life is so precious! You don't realize how precious until you receive that dreaded phone call. We love you Papa!!