Party + Pony = Super Fun Times!

I apologize in advance that these posts are going to be a little out of order, but I wanted to get these party pictures up.

An awesome couple at church, John and Kim Bittle, let us have Eliana's 2nd Birthday party at their house. They used to have a traveling petting zoo and pony rides business, but now just enjoy the animals at their house. The animals have been raised from birth and just roamed around with the kids. They had EVERYTHING! It was awesome. Plus they had a huge playscape within the fence. The kids would chase and pet and chase the animals. We had a BBQ with friends. It was a beautiful day for food, cake and families!

This is John and Kim's house. It was absolutely beautiful out there! And fun to see so many animals at one house.



Birthday cake time! Everyone is still talking about her little pumpkin cakes from last year, so I tried the recipe for cupcakes. They were pumpkin with chocolate chips and cream cheese icing.




This is Derek. He LOVES Eliana. He is a little boy from church. His mom says he talks about her all the time and is so stinkin' excited when he sees her.


Time to play! There was plenty of room to run around and be a kid! And to chase animals of course.





Eliana's first pony ride. She wasn't scared at all. She looks so small up there! She had the most excited smile when they put her up on the horse. That girl loves adventure!




One tired birthday girl. The fun lasted 3 hours! We loved it and are wondering how we will be able to top it next year!

Makenzie & Eliana

We have been blessed with a great friendship here with Katie and Nathan Madrid. Eliana is blessed with a great friendship with Makenzie. Both with the middle name of Grace. Her first BFF... okay, maybe a little forced because the adults spend so much time together. Makenzie just turned 3 and gives Eliana great hand-me-downs. They have so much fun together. I have experienced the first "close the bedroom door to keep the parents out". And this is what they apparently do...

Fall Time!

Fall is here. The leaves are changing and this area couldn't be more beautiful. After a photo shoot last weekend, Jason brought Eliana out for a few pics. Of course she loved the leaves.






In other Smith news, Eliana has her big Auditory Brainstem Response test this Friday. She goes into the pediatrician on Wednesday to see if her ears are clear of fluid. If they are, she has her test at the hospital in Fairfax, Virginia on Friday. That will be a hard day for her. Her test is at 12:30pm, and she can't eat or drink for 6 hours before. Try explaining to a 2 yr old that can't understand words why we can't give her anything. We are going to wake her up at 6am to give her a big breakfast and hopefully, she will take a morning nap before the trip. It will take us an hour to get there. We have to be there an hour ahead. She will be put under, so that will be hard. We are hoping that after this test she will be a candidate for hearing aids.

We can hear her babble, but I have never heard her voice. That was a realization I had today while talking to a friend. She was talking about her three year old that insisted she call her Cinderella. I was wondering what it would be like to have a conversation with Eliana. Hear her use words. And then there is the realization that we might not. So many things you don't think about, it makes my heart hurt.

Good news is she is picking up the sign language. She will come and ask (sign) for milk if she is thirsty. She was looking at a book the other day and I came in the room. She was signing ball. I was confused. She pointed to the picture and it was a picture of balls. I was so happy. I asked her what was on the next page and she signed cat. She also pointed to her picture and signed her name without any prompting. That one caught us off guard. The cool thing about that is that I thought that you spelled out someones name. You actually use the first letter of the name and pair it with a characteristic or attribute the person has, from the shoulders up. Eliana's is the letter e signed from the corner of the mouth up to the cheek. That is for laugh or smile, which she does all the time.

My Girl and My Man

Jason and Eliana and I went to a local battlefield. It was a lot of fun. Eliana loved climbing on the canons. She is a strong little thing. She climb all the way to the top in her little girl heels. Here is a view from the hill we were on. Absolutely breathtaking.

Tall Enough for Carnival Rides

Last night Jason, Eliana and I went to the Jefferson County Fair. Like last year, our church handed out free water and our small group where signed up. Our group has a lot of small kids, so the spouses split up. Some would take the kids, while some stayed back to hand out water. Eliana had a great time looking at the animals. Looking at her walk around on her own was so strange. Last year she was only 9 mths and I could still picture Jason carrying her around in that same building! She liked the baby ducks the best. And squealed with delight!





Eliana also got to ride her very first amusement park ride. She had a little friend with her. Oh my goodness! To see her excited face. She was like a volcano of excitement, that you couldn't help to be just as excited. I loved it and so did she! To tell you the truth, these moved pretty fast, and the train also moved around the track, but would also spin. Both myself and the other spouse said that our spouses would be too scared to let them ride these rides.

Smith Family Adventures

This summer has been so fun with Eliana. She is at such a fun age. She makes us smile and laugh all the time. She is getting so big. When it is time to eat, she goes and pulls a chair out from the table and climbs up. She climbs into the car and into her car seat, and then back out again when it is time. She loves to brush her teeth and LOVES the water. There aren't many swimming pools around here, so we have enjoyed the Shenandoah river.

As for her hearing. She is deaf in her right ear and a mild hearing loss in her left. She has been tested for a program here in West Virginia and she begins meeting with a speech therapist this week. After the testing they said that she is above where she should be for her age in cognitive and development. They said she was really smart. But she can't hear, so she is below in vocabulary. We will begin with sign language and she will get a hearing aid. She will go for a more in depth test to see what the problem is. She will have to be put under and it will take a half a day. That is a little scary for us. But after that, she can hopefully get the hearing aid. We won't know until after that if she is a candidate for the implant.

Here are a few pics:


This was actually pretty cute. She had gotten the crown from a birthday party the week before and it was still in the car. One day we were driving somewhere and I look back and she had put it on her head and was going along with the ride. Loved it!








We had a great day at the DC Zoo and American History Museum. Everything was packed, then again, it was a Saturday.






Eliana loves the river. Well, she loves water in general. Now, if she sees us grab a swim diaper she shrieks with excitement. The river is perfect, it is the perfect height for her on the edge. And the scenery is absolutely beautiful.