month of may.

To be honest I've put off writing a post because I just didn't know what to write.  The month of May overwhelms me.  Elly was born a year ago and we were in our long journey at the NICU.  Two years ago we lost our house to the fire a week after we had another failed IUI cycle.  I'm so happy with where we are now but when May rolls around I'm stuck in reflection mode and a little tissue is used when no one is looking.  Mainly happy tears :)

Elly celebrated her first birthday with a lovely family party!  Two aunties visited from Denver, a sweet cousin from Fort Collins and the ranch tried to take the afternoon off for the party.  Unfortunately, our well pump went out thirty minutes before the party giving the guys a job while the ladies visited.  I felt pretty composed before that happened and then I frazzled a bit :)  Elly received a lot of really fun stuff - adorable outfits and some fun toys and books.  I'll post later about some of the crafty stuff I did for Elly and about the cake that wasn't so bad!

I can't believe it's been a year since my miracle baby joined us!  I feel so blessed to have such a happy, beautiful little being in our lives!  I've spent a lot of time thinking about where we were last year and it continues to be overwhelming to put into words.

For Mother's Day we splurged and went to the Windsor Hotel in town which is under new
management.  We are really excited to have a close childhood friend of mine along with his charming wife running the place now.  They are true foodies returning from L.A. and we can't wait to see their vision of the place develop.  Mother's day was awesome!  We had some close friends join us so the company was wonderful and the food scrumptious - especially the strawberry rhubarb mimosa.

Last year we spent all day with Elly and went to a brunch the hospital held in honor of all the new moms.  As I sat there I was so, so incredibly jealous of all the families that wheeled their fat newborns by in their portable cribs while Mom and Dad enjoyed their meals.  They were offering free family portraits as well but I was already terrified of germs so we passed so the photographer didn't go into Elly's NICU room.  I still get a twinge in my tummy from it.  I feel guilty for being upset about our birthing story and the experience I so desperately wanted to have.  After 76 days in the NICU you know families that didn't get to take their long anticipated babies home.  Families that were likely sad as they looked at us because our story had a happy ending.  So to remind myself how lucky we are I take a special moment to enjoy my darling daughter.