After a long weekend with all her brothers, Ella is going through withdrawal. We taught her a sign for each brother and sister-in-law, and she keeps making them over and over, questioning where everyone has gone. Before she falls asleep, I explain that they live far away, but we will see them again, hopefully soon. She does the sign for each of them sadly, grabs her “blankie” and goes to sleep.

Each of the boys has a distinctly different personality and delights her in different ways. At times I would catch her looking at them thoughtfully; they do look somewhat alike, and their... more

Last week in my Love Thursday blog, I was highlighting some of the challenges of raising a toddler approaching the age of two. It had been a wild week and I as pretty much exhausted by the weekend.

So this week we started fresh, and Ella seemed like a different little girl. I’m not suggesting that we have a Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde situation going on here, but her focus was on other things.

For example, Ella has taken her interaction with... more

For those of you new to this blog wondering what in the world this love on Thursdays is all about, it is really just the one day of the week that some of us bloggers get personal and a tad sappy.

This week I am dedicating this blog to Ella’s youngest brother; the one she usurped for the position of “baby” in the family. But in my heart, he will always be my youngest son and she my youngest child.

With such a huge age difference, there is no fighting over toys or, “Mommy, he hit me,” types of things. When she first came home my son... more