A much needed update!

Believe it or not, I used to be quite a writer. Maybe not in the sense of being a *good* writer, but I used to write very often. I began writing stories as a child. Two of my favorites were written in the 2nd and 4th grades. The first was about a girl who loved swimming in the ocean, and she could speak to the animals in the sea. The second was about a girl who became friends with an alien named Lactune. I don't know why I felt the need to share that, but now you know. :)

In the 7th grade, I began journaling. I have several notebooks full of pages about life as a teenager, filled with drama, entries created by sheer boredom, and even a few very serious entries with unanswerable questions. Journaling has since been a wonderful tool for me to place my thoughts in a (somewhat) organized place. It has been a way for me to keep track of things happening in my life, so that later, I can revisit those times. I've recorded dreams, poems, prayers, and pretty much any and everything that comes to my mind at the time.

In 2001 I discovered the most wonderful blogging site, Open Diary. It is, by far, the best blogging site available, and I have hundreds of entries saved with them. (www.opendiary.com for those curious) I suppose I could have started a public family blog there, and maybe I should (my diary is public to strangers, but I don't share it with people I know. So, sorry.). I visit the site much more often than I do this one. And it's much easier to navagate, in my opinion. So look for an update of us moving over there sometime. :)

Anyway, that's my long-winded way of saying I'm sorry for not updating!

Here's the update, in bullets because Ella is needing me now (of course!):

• Ella is SEVEN months old today! She sits up well on her own, laughs at her daddy lots (and sometimes mommy too), and is the most wonderful little person in the world. She is still incredibly needy, but life is getting somewhat "easier" as time goes on. She isn't a very good sleeper, so taking naps and going to bed are a challenge for us. I'm tired a lot, and so is Wes. But, the good news is, once she's actually asleep, she does well (usually)... it's just getting to sleep that is the problem. She is still sensitive to dairy and wheat, so those things are out of my diet. I did a little experimenting over the holidays to see if she would tolerate dairy or wheat in small amounts, and I found that it's just better for her if I completely eliminate those things. But, I recently found a way to make no-bake cookies that are SAFE, so I plan to make and eat those as often as possible!
• Wes and I are pretty much the same. We've been able to get out a few times together without Ella, the most recent being last week for my birthday. It was the very first time that I wasn't nervous or anxious about leaving her. She's finally doing better with letting other people watch her (doesn't it sound like we do this all the time? I've only left her a handful of times...). When we returned from dinner, my mom and sister said that she did GREAT, and only cried a little (which is a HUGE improvement from the last time we went out, and she cried for over an hour!).
• After thinking more about it, I do think that we'll switch our family blog over to opendiary.com. I'll create that soon and update it more often (I promise!). I thought that being here would be easier for other people to check in on us, since others have blogs here, but I figure, if you're THAT interested, then you'll be willing to bookmark us somewhere else. :) And who knows, maybe you'll find that it's the superior blogging spot anyway!

So, I guess that's the update for now. I do plan to write more in 2009! For our family, and also just for myself in general!