Five Very Long And Amazing Years. Happy 5th Birthday Ellie

Today might be just another day to you but this day is a very important day in my life.
Today is my Ellie’s fifth birthday!

Here are some amazing things I want you to know about our daughter whom we love so very much.

She’s named after my dear sweet grandma

I loved my grandma so much growing up, maybe more than what’s considered normal.
When I was first pregnant with her, my grandmother was 102 years old but she was slowly slipping away.
I know, we shouldn’t have been shocked to see her slipping at age 102 but she was so full of life all of her life that when she wasn’t anymore, it was, well, shocking.
So when I was early in pregnancy, Gramma Ella or “Great” as Annie called her, got sick started going downhill.
The last time I saw her alive, she touched my belly and said: “I think it’s a girl”.
She also knew that if it were a girl, she was to be named after her.
She passed away two months before I found out that she was indeed a girl.
Ever since my grandma passed, I feel like a piece of her soul is inside my daughter.

She has the best sense of humor

At age 5.
She is a comedian and has been since she was a toddler.
She loves to make everyone laugh in our house.
I have no idea where she got that from.

She wants a pet in the worst way and loves animals of all kinds

She has a pretend dog and cat and even gives them water and food.
I will constantly come into the kitchen and there will be two bowls on the floor.
One with water and one with cheese nips because cheese nips are “what doggies like best”.
Lord help the pet we someday get.

She does amazing in school

The teachers love her and she cracks jokes to them all the time.
She should be hitting the Vegas circuit any day now.

She is one tough cookie

Yet very sensitive if that makes any sense.
She fell hard off her bike this summer and didn’t even shed a tiny tear.
But if you don’t include her?
She will walk away and cry alone.

She is my little homebody

Ella would literally stay in the house forever if she had her way.
I have to bribe her, BRIBE HER, to go to the store or the mall.
She is one Hoarders episode away from worrying me.
But she loves to snuggle on the couch, play intently with her toys and color and read.
Non.Stop.
And she isn’t just like this in the cold months.
Summer?
Pool, park, home.
Those are the only places she would love to be.
So I guess the positive spin is that I am making it a place she loves to be?
I will go with that.

Family is so important to her

She loves her grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncle so much and talks about them non-stop.
When am I gonna see Mamie and Papa? When do we go to visit them? Can I talk to Mamie on the phone?
Which makes me so happy because our blood family lives so far away.
Yet she has this strong connection with all of them as well as our Illinois/extended family.

Her sister is her world

They fight, they hit each other, they yell at each other but the first thing Ellie says when I pick her up at school is always, “Is Annie at home/in the car?”
Without fail.
And the first thing Annie says when she gets in the door after school is, “where is Ellie?”
They might be 7.5 years apart but they are tight.
They even call each other Ramona and Beezus at home when no one is listening.
And that makes my heart sing.