Sunday, February 24, 2008

Random pacifier

Ella never wanted to use a pacifier. Even when she was just months old, I would offer it to her to help her sleep, but she never wanted anything to do with it. As she got a little older she would hold on to it and play with it, but never use it the correct way. When we were in her room yesterday, she found this pacifier that she was given at the hospital the day she was born. She's been running a low grade fever today and this pacifier has been the only calming factor for her!


Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Ella loves Elmo

Recently I took some time to head to the store and do some browsing. Of course when I came across the Elmo slippers, I had to buy them for Ella bella. When I got home, I gave them to her right away and she was very happy to carry them around for a while. When I put them on her feet, she wasn't sure how to walk in them and grab them at the same time.

Here is a pic of Ella in her new Elmo slippers:

Hand in the pants, the sequel

Ella was playing in the basement just after a diaper change. We looked over at her and came across the following scene:



Notice only one sock. This definitely means that she will not be in charge of dressing herself for quite some time still.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Dumb Dog

I while back we decided to try and teach Ella to say "dumb dog". It hasn't really caught on, but here is just one example of how crazy Polly can be. This was completely unprovoked, just a random thing she felt the need to do.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Exploring

When I dropped Ella off at school today, her teacher had two questions for me:

1). Does Ella climb on everything at home also?

2). Does Ella always put her hand in the back of her diaper at home too?

She explained that Ella is always climbing the tables where they eat and color. There is also a step stool in the classroom that the kids use to reach the sink. They now have to put that up on a shelf when not in use because Ella is constantly climbing it.
And although Ella is constantly putting her hand in the back of her diaper, it has always been when she has a clean diaper on (thankfully).
Attached are some pictures of her new favorite hobby.....warming up her hands.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Flashback

This week I went through old pictures and thought I would post a few from when I was a little girl. Aside from my light hair, I see a lot of "Ella" in these pictures.

Here is one of Rebecca and I when I was 1 year old and she was 2 years old (I'm on the left):
Here are two pictures from my second birthday. I'm sure my mom would want me to clarify that everytime she would clean me up, it would take only seconds for me to get dirty again. Rebecca, my mom, me, Lissa:

This is the picture I think looks most like Ella. Not sure how old I am here, but I'm thinking somewhere between two and three years old (with my big brother Joseph):

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Rachel and Tony's wedding

Tonight we had the pleasure of going to my cousin Rachel and Tony's wedding. We had a great time and everything was beautiful. However, we did learn that she is at a very difficult stage/age where she is hard to entertain for longer than two minutes.

Here's a family pic (a difficult task):

And a few of Ella in her pretty dress and hot pink tights:

Ella wearing Uncle Joe's cowboy hat:

Thursday, February 7, 2008

16 months and Fridge Farm

Ella turned 16 months yesterday and she didn't even request a gift. However, we did put away a few of her gifts from her first birthday and pull them out when we think she would enjoy playing with something new. Yesterday we took out the fridge farm that she received from her birthday buddy Ellie. It is a magnetic farm that sticks to the fridge and makes farm and animal noises when you put an animal on it. Here are a few pictures of her playing with the fridge farm. I asked her to look at me and smile....and she definitely flashed all 14 of her teeth.



Another quick story that makes us proud. I went to pick up Ella from school today and she was sitting quickly playing on the mat when I walked in. As soon as she saw me, I bent down to give her a hug, but instead she walked over to her cubby to grab her coat. I was very impressed that Ella is learning a new life skill!

Friday, February 1, 2008

Successful surgery

Ella did really great today at the hospital. We had to be there at 6 am and she was quite a sleepy head this morning. The entire procedure lasted just over an hour (tubes in the ear and adenoids removed) and we had to wait in the lobby until she woke up from the anesthesia. They warned us that she was going to be crabby when she woke up, but the good girl cried for maybe three minutes and fell right back asleep in Mama's arms. We took her home around 10 am and she ate a little brunch and slept for about an hour. Now it definitely seems like she is feeling better and is playing with her toys, but she is not supposed to play crazy for at least two days and should still take it pretty easy for another week or two.
Thanks for reading...enjoy the pictures.

Here she is wearing the hospital top and of course, Elmo (who even went with her to surgery):


A family shoot that the nurse took for us:
In the hospital top and bottom. Both were too big for her, but so cute!
Here she is trying to see what was on her head: