And the love of ponies begins...

After battling a terrible tummy bug for a week, we almost didn't take EK to a pony-riding birthday party. She is now in love with ponies! She hasn't stopped talking about ponies since her first ride. Every day she asks to go for a ride. Richard is looking into area petting zoos.

Her first date. This young man jumped in the car with her. We didn't catch his name.


Ma'am, are you absolutely certain this steed is safe?


And she's off!


Again, please! Again!


Less than climactic, but here is a video of EK looking like a professional rider!

Pics from Easter

The Pullen family had a string of bad news, so I wasn't exactly looking forward to celebrating Easter this year. But, our wonderful family, including aunts, uncles and cousins, pulled us out of our funk for a great day!

I'm Not Sure When It Happened,

But EK suddenly became a big girl!

Cheesing with Titi Coco and Daddy


Learning to dress herself has had a few bumps in the road...


Singing her ABCs with GUSTO!

Going Once...Going Twice... Going Three Times...

SOLD!

We finally sold our house in Atlanta. The deal was marred by realtor laziness, inefficiencies and tremendous mess-ups of epic proportions.

But, it's done. Finally. And we can finally, officially, move on to Tennessee. :)

The family that bought our house is great. They have a little boy, named Carson, who is the same age our little Carson would have been. I took that as a sign that everything worked out as it was meant to.

Recent Pictures and Goings On...

Our household has been living up to our blog title recently. My sweet baby is cutting her last set of molars and you'd think there is a scene from Alien playing out in her mouth. True, I don't personally remember teething, but EK is milking it for all it's worth. Suddenly "Kate teeth hurt owww" when it's time to eat something other than chicken and french fries. :)

Needless to say, we really have been Pullen All Nighters lately. As evident by this 1:41 am blog post!

Here are pictures from the last few weeks. Enjoy!

Very happy to be eating her cereal.


How big is Ella Kate? "Kate BIG!"


Imagination Movers was particularly captivating in this rare still moment.


"Mommy, I'm ready to go ride!"


A scene from pretty much every morning.


Waiting on Poppi & Gigi to come visit.


She is very comfortable with that football. And she loves to give us a big Roll Tide. I'm just sayin'.


I adore her pink Ralph Lauren Polo velour track suit! It was a hand-me-down from a friend in Atlanta and EK totally rocks it. It just SCREAMS Puerto Rican Princess. And, yes, she has the booty to pull it off.


Reading a book to Penelope. Can't you tell she's riveted?


Procrastinating before bed. She's become a master of stall techniques.

Motherhood

I've been thinking about motherhood lately. Something magical happens the second women hear their first born cry. We become protectors. We do everything possible to coax smiles. We live for our children.

Lately, I've been following the blog of a mother in Texas. Her little girl, Layla Grace, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. She's chronicled her family's struggles through chemo, radiation, bone marrow transfusions and all the highs and lows in between. She dedicated every last second she had with her baby to fighting for her, comforting her and loving her.

Their story touched me deeply. Ella Kate is only two weeks younger than Layla Grace, so I saw so much of her in their blog. They have the same big blue eyes, use the same sippy cups and look adorable in their homemade tutus.

Layla Grace lost her battle with cancer yesterday.

While I know that God has a plan and a purpose for everything, I can't help but question why He would allow a innocent child to suffer. And, I don't know how a mother's heart can handle it.

Rest in peace, sweet angel.

Awww... NUTS!

In December, we found out that Ella Kate is allergic to peanuts. Driving down I-65 at night, I looked back to find her eyes swollen shut and one side of her lip swollen to kingdom come. That was our first real parenting panic. We stopped at a gas station at Exit 22, crushed an adult Benadryl and forced it down her. I've never sang The Wheels On The Bus so loudly and so energetically in my life. We were doing everything we could to keep her awake.

Fast forward two weeks: we get her blood tests back from the allergist. Most people with peanut allergies will react to them when their blood test results are .35. Ella Kate's result was 50. Yes, that 5-0. And tied for the highest our doctor has ever seen - in 20+ years.

I didn't realize how extremely lucky we were that night on the Interstate. She could have easily drifted off to sleep and stopped breathing. She was very quiet, but something made me look back at her. I'm terrified to think about what wouldn't happened if I didn't. If that's not proof that we have angels watching out for us, I don't know what is. We definitely had divine assistance that night.

The good news is that we know. It'll be a daily battle outside of our peanut-free house, but we at least know what we're battling.