Well… maybe not exactly forced. OK she was possibly accepting of the idea… ok ok… shut up she was crazy excited.

This year her teacher (Mrs McMurtrey) seems super nice! Not like other teachers whom in the past I have wanted punch in the back of the head. Ooops did I type that out loud? She seems very warm and cheerful, sweet and patient. Actually the kind of person you might think is a big faker and is making fun of you behind your back when you walk away. The kind you give the side eye to because WHY are they being that nice? Maybe I should punch HER in the back of the head! But I won’t, that’s not nice. And she is an elementary school teacher and THAT is how elementary teachers SHOULD act… in my opinion. They should be nice and warm and sweet. And not tell your child to relay messages to her parent when that matter should stay between teacher and parent. That’s all I’m saying man.

Wait what? What was I talking about? Messages… teachers… 1st day of school! That’s right, my bad.

So I had this deal worked out with the small child. She gets to wear what she wants… have her hair the way she wants… eat what she wants before school… hang out with her friends before class. And in return mama gets to take some pictures. No complaining, look and me and pretend not to be so revolted by the camera your face looks like it is going to melt right off. Sounds easy enough right?

Well at least I held up my end of the deal. She picked her clothes. She wanted to wear her hair down, I wasn’t allowed to touch her with any hairbands or clips. And after a nice breakfast of honey nut cheerios we were out the door.

But it was toooooo briiiiiiight to smile for any pictures. She squinted and glared and rolled around in agony until I put down the camera so she could run off to the playground.

Hurrrrry up moooom!! My face… it’s… starting to… melllllt.

I knew I should have insisted on that ponytail…

At least marble obliged me.

Oh hi senorita pouty puss!

So I had to do what any good mom would do.

Stand back and pretend to not be taking pictures. Yeah! And then when she least expects it. WHAM sneak attack!

Hey what was that clicking sound? Quick hide the camera!

I even sneak attacked the teacher. I know she probably would have posed for a picture had I asked. But I always feel bad. Maybe it’s because I don’t like people taking pictures of me. And no matter how I try to pose or get ready I always hate the way I look. And then if it’s not my picture how am I ever going to see if it turned out well? I’ll have to wonder forever. So I think it’s much more humane to sneak attack and for them to never know it happened.

So that was pretty much the first day of school. Except for one minor incident involving a backpack she thought was lost, but turned out to be right next to her the whole time. A small freak out and a few tears when she was rushed into line and she couldn’t see mom and didn’t know where the backpack had gone. But we quickly straightened it out, tears were dried and we headed on confident in our day…

Well… she was confident. Mommy was left a scared, broken heaving mess of emotions and tears as her baby walked away. What am I going to do without her all day?

Hey… mom… uhh… why are staring at me like that?

Don’t ever leave me Marble.

We spent last night in the St Rose emergency room. I’ll spare you the icky details but Ellie was in pain when she went to the bathroom. They shot her up with some antibiotics and sent us home. Turns out she had a pretty serious UTI.

I’m glad we got her looked at and she is feeling MUCH better now. We had her wear pull ups last night because she was having issues trusting her bladder.

She hasn’t worn a pull up since she was 2 and she thought it was pretty funny. Although she didn’t need them today she kept them on. I told her she better be careful and not revert. We don’t want her being the only 1st grader in her class in diapers.

Couple pics from our wild night out.

Of course Marble was there for company.

See how much effort that is? Good. You’re on my side. So you can see how it took me nearly 3 months to get around to it.

Well our little fellers got here today. They are pretty darn cute let me tell ya. You can hold them in your hand and they tickle you and crawl around. They wave their little heads in the air like they are sniffing and poop on your fingers. That part is more funny than cute. And more funny when it’s not your fingers being pooped on.

Here’s Ellie and Emily enjoying our new friends.

One of Ellie’s last baby words is “callapitter”. I’ve corrected her but she still says it anyway and it makes me all happy and warm inside that she still has a baby word.

Hello little callapitter!

There is 5 all together. This one she named Julian. The she named the others Beautifly, Dexter, Pandy and Fred.

I just hope she will leave them alone. As much as I like the lil creatures I’d rather them not be crawling around the house. 

Ok Julian? Stay inside you’re over priced pop up tent until you make your chrysalis. Pwetty pwease?

Oh that? That is my big girl on her new bike. Isn’t she adorable doesn’t she look big? HUGE? So big she couldn’t possibly be my baby. No! I brought a tiny 7lb 12 oz baby girl home. NOT that big girl! Who is this impostor??

Could it be? Could this be my little freckle face, curly haired bebe?

Oh that’s her alright. And even though I know it’ll be a blink of an eye and she’ll be graduating high school… just for today, just for a little bit longer. I’m going to pretend she’s going to be this big forever.

It helps my aching heart.

We are going to be great friends with the tooth fairy at this rate!

Forgive the pained look on her face. It is ever so hard to smile for the camera when all you want to do is watch cartoons.

After school Ellie prompted me to “feel how loose it is NOW mom!” and after hearing that for weeks and weeks I wasn’t expecting much. But whoooaa was that little sucker rocking! I felt it… I knew it was going to happen. (Moms have keen instincts about these sorts of things.

It was this lil guy right here… see him all tilted forward?

That little bugger was coming out! We pushed it, we pulled it, we twisted it… it was on it’s way. Daddy got home and after he felt it his eyes got wide! He knew it too. I guess daddies have a few of those instincts too. We even let her stay up late knowing all it needed was a little more time.

Finally all the pushing, pulling and twisting was getting a little old. I told Ellie to go get an apple. And if that tooth didn’t pop out on the first bite!

Here is the heroic apple.

And the cute little fairy paid us a visit! She was mighty generous, this being her first tooth and all. I hope that doesn’t set the bar for future teeth… I don’t know how the fairy will afford groceries or gas when teeth start popping out left and right in a couple years.

I must admit she looks mighty adorable. My big girl!!! I remember watching that tooth make it’s way through her gums over 5 years ago. I loved that little tooth. I stared at it in awe. And now it’s gone. I’ll miss you little tooth!!! I’ll miss you.

I hope you were good to the earth today. Maybe planted a tree? Or rode a bike to work? Or picked up trash outside?

My little hero did her part. Isn’t she sweet?

She is my first daughter. The little one who first made me a mommy. Isn’t she sweet? Look at her opening her Easter goodies. I love this kid.

She has a lot of names around here. Elliepants… Elliebelly… E-bean… E-boogy… love… Neebler Uno… Boinga… Hungry muffin… you can see where I’m coming from on some of these… the others… well I just enjoy calling her random things. But her birth name. Her given name that was bestowed upon her after she came into this world. Was…

Myrielle Jonia Harris

Myrielle was a french name we both really liked. Traditionally spelled Mirielle. My husband and I liked the name Ellie but thought we might need a first name that wasn’t so… so… well… so piggytail kindergarten. Incase one day she was a doctor… or lawyer.. or president. Presedent Myrielle. Sounds good doesn’t it? So we searched for names that had “Elle” in them. We liked this one, it means Miracle. And she really is.

Jonia was Will’s idea. We came up with Myrielle within days of finding out I was prgnant. But the middle name eluded us until I was nearly 9 months along. One day while out of town on business Will called me up and said, “How about Jonia? I was thinking of musicians I like and I like Joni Mitchell. Myrielle Joni sounds like it’s missing something so I just added an “A” to the end of it.” I immediately liked it. And being desperate to complete her name it was immediately agreed upon.

It’s kind of a mouthful. It’s pretty unique. It’s perfect for our Ellie. Our Ellie who when she came into the world on March 25th 2003 looked like this.

And who now looks like something like this.

My little girl is 6 now. She’s so beautiful. She’s so smart, she’s a really good kid all around.

She loves swimming. At any given moment you can be assured that given the option she would be immeresed in water, splashing around. Pretending to be a mermaid. Mermaids. She loves mermaids. Give her a magic wish granting genie and all 3 of her wishes would involve mermaid type desires.

Can I tell ya this kid loves to write. I have notebooks upon notebooks filled with stories and things she’s constantly writing. I keep a pen and paper in my purse to keep her busy when we are out incase she gets bored. She makes up stories, she draws pictures, she loves to keep those creative hands busy.

She is such a loving girl. She tells me daily that she loves me, that I’m pretty, that I’m her favorite and she will never never ever let me go. If you don’t have someone telling you that everyday – GET ONE. It does wonders for your soul. I love this kid.

Sometimes I wonder what I did to deserve her. Sometimes that song from “The sound of Music” echos in my head.

Nothing comes from nothing
Nothing ever could
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good

Yes, I must have had some serious karma points saved up to get this girl. I love her so much and am so proud I get to be her mama.