A Sad Day

Picking up where I left off....this post goes back to the beginning of June. If you have been an avid reader of our updates, you will remember that we were having a lot of trouble with our Beagle, Buster. We tried in home training from Bark Busters and had some great success with some of Buster's issues. However, Buster was still being very aggressive with Mason. Although we were getting tired of Buster's growls with Mason, we thought we had it under control. One day while Mason was chasing him around, Buster turned and snarled with teeth showing. That was it, we decided not to take any chances. The next weekend Buster was off to a new home.

We were so sad to let him go. After all, we have had him since he was 7 weeks old and he was very loved. Many tears were shed and probably still will be for quite some time. We miss him very much!

We were very lucky that Travis works with a gal who rescues dogs. She is great and was willing to take him in until she helped us find him a good home. Well, after a couple of months went by she had fallen in love with him and decided to keep him.

Buster is a great dog, just not good with toddlers. His new best friend is a cat and we hear that they snuggle together in a chair every evening. And for those of you that know Buster, you can pick your chin up off the floor now :)

So this post is dedicated to our beloved dog Buster. We love you and are happy that you have found a wonderful, loving home and a best friend (even if it is a cat).

Stay Tuned....

ok, ok....I know I am MONTHS behind on my posts and pictures and I promise I will catch up...REALLY I WILL!

Stay tuned for lots of posts to help you catch up on the Ellinger Family happenings!

Check back often, as I may post multiple updates per day for a while :)

Dizzy & The Milk Monster

Our little girl is almost 2 months old! I can't even believe it. Seems like I was just posting about finishing her nursery not too long ago.

Isabel has developed an adorable smile and is starting to learn that she can make some cute noises. She has earned herself a couple of unique nicknames in our house. One is "Dizzy" since that his how Mason first said her name. Poor girl, it stuck :) The other is "Milk Monster". She earned this nickname because she eats a ton, and wants to eat all the time. She goes from 0 to hungry in a matter of seconds and is not afraid to let us know.

She also has what we like to call "arms disease". She insists on being held all the time and loves to sleep in your arms. We are enjoying this cuddle time while we can because we know that she will become an independent toddler all to soon :)

Surprise!

Ok...I am really, really behind on my posts so this one goes back to early May. I have to hand it to my husband. He pulled off a surprise birthday party for me and I had no idea! He planned everything from the invitations to the menu all without me even having the slightest idea.

Yes, this year I turned the big 3-0. I think I will continue to tell everyone I am 29 until it becomes highly obvious that I am not :)

He told me that one of our neighbors were coming over to see Isabel on the Saturday before my birthday. When the doorbell rang and some of our other neighbors appeared, I just figured that they were coming to see Isabel too. They even brought some snacks and I thought "wow, that was really nice of them to bring snacks". At this point I was still completely clueless. Next, I saw his parents pull up in their car. They live about 4 hours away and I thought that they just jumped in the car and decided to come and visit (as they often make spur of the moment decisions to travel). Ok, so I was still clueless... Next, some good friends walked in with a gift in hand and my first thought was that they were here for Mason's birthday party and had confused the dates. When I looked surprised and asked "what are you doing here?" my friend smiled and said she was here for me. At the same time someone said surprise and then I finally got it! Everyone was coming for my surprise birthday party.

It was a very unique surprise since Travis did not have anyone take me out of the house. He had everyone show up at the same time and I am sure it was hilarious to see the bewilderment on my face!

I have to hand it to him, he really pullled off a successful surprise party. He even had everything organized so that we did not have pop, beer, and tons of burgers and hot dogs in our house, since that would have surely tipped me off.

Pictures

It took a while for me to get these posted....enjoy...

March For Babies 4/25/09

I want to start off by saying how proud I am of my husband. He really dedicates himself to the March for Babies each year. This year he raised $2,700 and exceeded his fundraising goal by $1,200! This year was the first year he organized a team to walk to walk in honor of Mason and CDH. 15 people came out to support him and even raised an additional $890 bringing the grand total to $3,590!

The weather turned out beautiful and we were thrilled that Mason was able to join the team in the walk. Everyone had a great time, despite sore feet after such a long walk.

Thank you to everyone who donated, participated and helped raise money for such a good cause!


Team Mason


Mason petting a horse with Daddy at one of the checkpoints

Isabel is Here!

We are proud to announce that Isabel May Ellinger was born on Friday, April 17th at 11:30am. She weighed 7lbs 3oz. and was 18 and 1/2 inches long. She was born via VBAC, and we were able to avoid a second cesarean. Both Mom and baby are doing well.

Here are some pictures...we hope to post more details soon.