Ellie's First Year

(to hear the video's music, please press pause on the music playlist at the bottom of the blog.)

From the moment we first held you in our arms, when we saw the face we had only seen on computer screens, the body we had so fervently prayed for, the daughter we had dreamed of...

 our hearts somehow grew and you came and filled the Ellie sized hole perfectly...

somehow we fell more in love with you than we already were.

and those first moments that were never promised to us...

they grew into days we never took for granted because the reality that no day is promised had been made so very clear to us.

 and days grew to weeks and weeks to the first month and the first smiles...

 and soon we found ourselves celebrating the first holidays with you...

 with each milestone - no matter how big or how minor, we celebrated and cheered for our Ellie Girl.

 We redefined normal yet again and somehow found ourselves thriving in spica season... a body cast can not contain you, precious Ellie

 We've enjoyed so many firsts with you and have been honored to watch you experience the world around you.

So many experiences we only dreamed of and never knew if you would live long enough to know them.

How grateful we are.

 We've introduced you to many of our favorite people and some of our favorite places.

Turns out, you love them too.

 Your giggle is contagious and your smile lights up a room.

Happy Birthday, Precious Eleanor.

You bring us joy daily.  He has given us 12 months of bliss with you - through surgeries and castings and splintings and therapies, through baths and airplanes and boxes and moving, through holidays and families, friends and oceans and lakes and swimming pools, naps and nightime rockings, cuddles and stories and rolling on the rug...

not a moment is taken for granted.  We are blessed with you in our family.  You are the daughter we've always dreamed of and you are so much more than we ever could have imagined.

We love you.

Thank you for supporting our family and celebrating our Ellie girl this year.  We appreciate you more than you know and have loved sharing our precious girl's story with you!

Stay tuned for birthday pictures coming soon!

ps - she loves cake!

(Forgive the very novice video - it's my first ever attempt at imovie and youtube... The original one I made was 20 minutes and included pregnancy photos (shocker that I would have a hard time editing, I know!)  So, in order to put one on the blog, I had to cut it to 10 minutes and it was hurriedly done today while baking in my 91 degree kitchen (a/c out again!))
(*in the video, the pictures of Ellie as a newborn against the black backdrop are by Sam Smead.)