Long Visit with my Daughter

This weekend my mom and I made the trip down late Friday night to stay with Nicolette and Ellie for the weekend. I had acquired a pretty nasty cold over Christmas and actually slept in my mom's car Friday night instead of on the couch because I didn't want to keep Kim up.
On Saturday Joe came over and we all went for a walk around the town with Ellie in her stroller stopping for coffee at Starbucks and meeting up with a few of Joe's friends on the street as well. I was able to play with Ellie all afternoon and she even called me "Daddy" a few times. She showed me her dance moves and spoke a whole slew of words she's working on throughout the day. She is growing up soo fast. It seemed like she was so much older already even though I last saw her only two weeks ago. She eats like a fiend and can easily be cheered up when she is crying. I take comfort in knowing that I can put a smile on her face very easily and she is completely calm when I'm holding her to my chest. On car rides she snuggles up with her blanket and falls asleep to classical music. She is so wonderful. For dinner on Saturday night we had a big pot of my mom's spaghetti for dinner which was delicious and I'm pretty sure Ellie liked it a lot too as she had it all over her face.
On Sunday we all went to church in the morning. Ellie looked so cute in her red dress and bow in her hair. Only Joe took communion which confused me a little bit why Nicolette didn't. After church Ellie ran all about full of energy and then took a long nap in the afternoon from all the excitement. We then went out to Target in the afternoon to get some stuff (Ellie got more toys of course also) before coming back to the house.
On both Saturday and Sunday night Nicolette and I had a lot of time to catch up on things when everyone else went to bed. I think we reached a common ground between us and I think we both understand each other a lot better now. I talked about my childhood and past and she talked about hers as well. She told me how difficult it is to be a single mom and I told her how difficult things have been for me at school and financially as well. The outcome of both nights is that I feel much more comfortable talking with her now and I think we both understand each other a lot better. I now feel comfortable calling her whenever it strikes me and I can tell that she knows I love Ellie with all my heart and am truly trying my best to do what is right for her. It was a great visit and I look forward to seeing them both again soon whenever I have the time and can afford to make the trip home again.