Thankful #19-Birthdays!

To see all these hero's at the same table is so amazing! Celebrating another year with your loved one is breathtaking!
Ellie was cruising around the skating rink on this little wiggle car. Today was one of those days that was picture perfect. To see her here and cruising around no less, when last year she was on oxygen and pale.

Enjoying the ball zone! I had to let all my germ phobias aside for the day so I could enjoy watching my girls enjoy life! Boy it was beautiful!

For this Birthday from Hope Kids, she opened up a little doll and Tinkerbell. Man she was so excited. She saw Tinkerbell and hugged and kissed her over and over.

You know those days you want to remember so bad
but no picture or camera can capture the moment. In my mind, I kept taking mental pictures. This was a moment that I wanted to seer into my mind.

Last December when Ellie turned one, I woke up that morning and just started to bawl. I was so emotional. Even the day she was born, our previous baby was stillborn at birth, so needless to say Ellie's birth was extremely emotional. I couldn't believe that we had come so far and that Ellie had made it to her first birthday. This was a day that I wasn't sure we would get to celebrate with her. Two days before we were in the hospital for a scary procedure. I wanted to plan the biggest bash that we could possibly plan, but with her being in the hospital for a week prior, we thought it best to keep things small. This year we got to attend a Birthday Bash for an organization called "Hope Kids." This is an organization for kids fighting life threatening diseases. I couldn't contain the tears when they gathered all the kids to blow out the candles. Looking around the table, there were kids who were in the middle of fighting the biggest fight ever, bald, pale and week from the chemo. There were kids who were in a better stage of their treatments, and parents or siblings who were stepping in for the kiddos who lost their battles. They all give me inspiration. I hope that Ellie can give some of them the "HOPE" that we so desperately needed last year. We were carting around oxygen and wondering if we would reach that ever so important milestone. As you can see, Birthday's have a new meaning for us.