Essie Essay

Since she's been gone the whole time I have had this particular blog, Essie's gotten a little gypped out on airtime, so here's a post all about Essie.

Essie was born in Knoxville, TN. She LOVES to hear the story about the day she was born. Her favorite part is that the doctor said I could start pushing and she was going to go check on someone and come back. I pushed once and Essie started REALLY coming out. They hollered for the doctor to come back and she barely got her gown on before Essie popped out on push #3!!!

Here's Miss Essie at about 2 weeks old:

Essie is the WORLDS GREATEST TRAVELER! She went on her first plane trip at about 6 weeks and people didn't know there was a baby on the plane. You put her in a car for a 17 hour trip to Granny's, and you won't hear a peep. Not an "are-we-there-yet" not a "I-have-to-go-potty"... NOTHING. She's SO content.

It may be because we let her drive:

She was a super happy baby who NEVER let you know she had an ear infection, even though she pretty much always did.

One of my all time favorites:

Essie is a stuffed animal-aholic. MILLIONS of them... really....

Where's Essie then?

Where's Essie now?

Essie's first real Halloween. Grandma made this costume.

Essie's 3rd birthday at Disneyland:

Essie likes boys... she's been flirting with bag boys at the grocery store since she was 4 months old.

Here she is with her friend C at Lego Land:

Essie ADORES the musical CATS. Grandma & Grandpa bought her the DVD when she was 3 and we have watched it a GAZILLION times. This last spring before we left Minnesota, it came to a town close to us. I just could NOT pass up taking her. I didn't tell her where we were going. We went out for supper, and then headed downtown. She had NO idea. Drove to the Civic Center, the sign is flashing CATS, and the usual Ms. Notices EVERYTHING didn't notice it. We parked the car, walked to the Civic Center, she still had no idea. Walked in, got our tickets from will-call, and headed through the door. She STILL had no idea, until the ticket taker gave her the program. Of course they DON'T allow cameras inside (GRRRR) so I don't have a picture of her face at that moment, but if you ever wanna know what PURE ELATION looks like, that was her face that night. Being me, I cried. She had a BLAST. At the beginning of the show, some of the cats are out in the audience. One came over to Essie and pawed at her at hissed. She pawed and hissed right back. It a pawed and hissed again and she says "Hairball?" OH my gosh I almost died.

So.. here's a picture of Essie as Monkestrap from CATS for Halloween (and a MAJOR
shout out to Gramma who makes AMAZING costumes!!!):

Essie is a very complex girl. She's very smart and understands people better than anyone I know. She's also been quite damaged by her dad. He's said mean things to her, he has no patience with her. I won't get into all of it here, but it's not pretty. She's got a long road ahead of her, getting her self confidence back, but I know she can do it. I'm gonna do my best to help her and guide her. You keep on eye on my Essie... she just may take the world by storm one of these days. So... here's some more Essie....

Essie as a new big sister

Essie as a preschool graduate

Essie's first day of kindergarten
Essie was a flower girl in my brother's wedding. By the end of the day
she was hot and tired and had enough:

Essie and her killer dimples:

Essie as a winter princess for Halloween:
My beautiful Essie:
One of my all time favorites:
Saucy Christmas Essie:

I forgot to add this - Miss Essie (who is in San Diego for the summer with Grandma & Grandpa) leaves today for a road trip. They are going to Phoenix tonight to go to a German restaurant where a friend plays the accordion on Friday nights, then tomorrow they go to Meteor Crater in Arizona, then Sunday & Monday they will be at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, then Tuesday they go to Durango, Colorado to ride this train thingy on Wednesday, then Thursday they go to Arches National Park in Utah, then Friday they to go Vegas for 2 days and then home on Sunday. I am SOOOOOOOOOOO jealous!!!!!