Whirlwind

It's been a whirlwind few weeks in the Hoffman Household. Due to the passing of our beloved Papa, the three of us took an unexpected trip to Erie. It was hard to say goodbye to the man who was once so full of life and love, but has been ravaged by Alzheimer's disease in the last few years. Losing him little by little over time left us without an opportunity to mourn him fully until his passing. Pulling together pictures for the viewing allowed me to bask in the memory of a man who lived life to the fullest, loved to laugh, eat, travel, and loved his family endlessly.

The joy in this time of sorrow was being surrounded by my amazing family. Papa had 4 children, 21 grandchildren, and 12 (including baby boy Hoffman) great grandchildren. All of the children and nearly all of the grandchildren were able to attend the viewing and funeral. It was a rare treat to have the rowdy, hilarious, loving bunch all together.

Eleanora with her "big girl" cousins

Eleanora was a great traveler, especially with her Dad along to make everything more fun. They made an endlessly fun game of opening and closing the window shade, then kept busy coloring, playing with cars, eating snacks, and even squeezing in a nap.

Once we got home and settled from our travels, we were hit with a super fun cold/stomach bug. Eleanora shook it off pretty fast after a day or two of taking it easy, but I haven't been quite so lucky. After an exciting night stay in the hospital for fluids and anti-nausea medication, I am on the mend.

With all that has been going on, I haven't had a chance to some of the more fun happenings of our little girl. She has been the master of imitation lately, in actions and in words which is a little scary for us!. She loves to say (about a toy, Charlie, bird, anything) "Where'd id go?" with her hands up in the air, and then excitedly answer, "Dar id is!" when she finds the missing item. She also loves to sing "E-i-e-i-ooo, goggie" (translation, "Old McDonald had a doggie, e-i-e-i-o). She calls for all of us with a "(insert name) back!" which we think translates to "come back!". She can also name and point to her nose, hair, eyes, ears, toes and knees (especially when she would like for them to be tickled!).

Marvelous Mother's Day

Yesterday was a wonderful Mother's Day starting with the incomparable gift of sleep. Our usually early riser (5:30 or 6:00 is a typical wake-up call) slept in until 8:00! Although I was awake and feeling very well-rested, Ben insisted I stay in bed and relax until he and Eleanora came to get me. I lounged and read in bed for a bit (glorious!) until I was greeted with a very excited, "Mommy!!!" from Eleanora as she ran to me with a crayon covered card in her little hand. She sat in my lap as I opened it and exclaimed "Oh, wow!" at the card she helped to pick out and decorate. Ben brought me a delicious cappuccino and beautiful card as well.

The rest of the day was packed with fun; church, a nap (for Eleanora) and pedicure (for me - amazing!), then a wonderful outdoor dinner of Chinese food followed by chasing Eleanora around the fountains near the university.

Eleanora was dressed to the nines for Mother's day thanks to my friend Kirstin, who made her adorable dress. Could it be any cuter?!

It was a great day, and I felt very appreciated and loved by my beautiful family.

I did receive another Mother's Day present earlier in the week. We caught our very first glimpse of Baby Hoffman! We asked the doctor to not tell us the gender, but instead to write it down for us to open together later (thanks for the idea, Vanessa and Ryan!). As we stared at that adorable face, sweet little hands and toes on the screen we both just knew the gender (which was the opposite of what we were thinking all along). Later that evening over a porch-side spread of frozen margaritas (sans tequilla for me) and chips and salsa, we opened the paper together and saw one word...

Boy!

Yes, Eleanora will have a little brother (or "baby brof")! We are so excited to meet this little guy and welcome him to our thrilled family. Eleanora may even be willing to share her growing matchbox car collection with him, if he's lucky!