Just a quickie!!!

I am pretty much a blogging idiot. I never seem to be able to get the formatting to look right, and I have no idea how to add all that pizazz that so many other blogs have, but I think I've come to terms with my remedial blogging. At least I can add pictures!!! : ) And so here are a bunch from this past Saturday (the 21st). She can stand with support, but needs to be put into standing position. So if it looks like she's standing, it's because I was trying to snap the pictures quick before she lost her balance!!!

Yes, she has a raincoat...

My little Ella Bella is sleeping nice and sound in her crib : ) I love how every time I put her down in the crib she just rolls over to her side. I think it's because every time we nap together she's on her side since we face each other. I guess the side position just feels natural to her.

I am just loving this age.... Ella's showing more and more personality, laughing and babbling, sitting up well now, still perfecting rolling over and just starting to crawl.... I feel so excited just thinking about all her potential... And I definitely am just enjoying the moment, our day to day routine... I just love this age! I don't know what else to say for now, all that I think about is how much I love, love, love my little Ella Bella!!!!!!!!

Well I am hearing little whimpers coming from her room.... I'll admit we usually take the morning nap together : ) I love making my own little interpretations for everything - "she must miss me right now" Hehe...

Back to baby!!!!

***please excuse this HORRIBLE formatting, but I give up on trying to make it look right!!!****

So I have been meaning to write sooner, as always! I got back from Florida last Sunday night and have really enjoyed being at home with Ella since then. I definitely felt like she missed me and LOVES me : ) That first night I let her sleep in bed with me, since I missed her so much and plus Ryan still wasn't home. But would you believe it, three times this past week we put Ella in her crib drowsy- but with her eyes wide open- and she actually went to bed without a fuss? No crying at all!

I start to feel a little anxious when other people describe how they have sleep problems with their kids, so it is really nice transitioning Ella to a fuss-free bedtime routine! She would usually sleep in her crib, but I would have to nurse her to a deep sleep first in order to avoid a LOT of crying. If she woke up when I put her down, it was like, "okay, start over!" Now that I'm putting her down awake, I just can't believe she's not putting up a fight!

Ella is aso eating very well right now. She's had rice cereal, oatmeal, barley; turkey, beef, chicken; lots of fruits and veggies! I am so happy she's been eating everything so well. Just this past week, I have been feeding her breakfast, lunch and dinner in her highchair and what a difference it has made! Before, it was like I was nursing her all the time and still she wanted more! I think she was definitely ready to eat more....

Well this posting will have to be short- we are going to Ryan's parents' house for dinner- I think Ella will be very happy to see them. They watched her while we were out of town and hasn't seen them since. She's a lucky girl - having lots of family around who love her lots : )

Separation anxiety!!!!!!!!!!

This weekend I'm going with Ryan on a business trip, and Ella isn't coming : ( I would normally work on Thursdays but I took today off to spend more time with her... and she's been so fussy!!! : ( Oh well, I'm still happy we've had extra time together. Even though our days are not exactly full of excitement, there is quite a bit of amusement.... like today I thought I smelled turkey out of the blue, which was weird... but then I remembered we fed her pureed turkey the night before... yes, her poop totally retained the smell of turkey, which actually beats regular poop stink! Think about it, has that kind of thing ever happened to you? Okay don't think about it- that's pretty gross... But you know what else is weird? After she ate the turkey, she fell asleep as if the turkey made her so sleepy!!! Funny coincidence... her portion was so tiny I can't imagine that it contained an amount of tryptophan high enough to have a "sleepy" effect, but I wonder... : )

Jessica took this picture of Ella 2 weeks ago and I had meant to post it sooner. Cute, huh? Her eyes look so blue, I think there may have been a little bit of photo editing. But yes, her eyes are definitely still blue- although I would describe them as a blue-grey... I noticed a couple of days ago that she's losing hair (there was a bunch in her crib) and I think more is coming in. Her head has been looking really fuzzy lately : ) It looks kind of blond in sunlight but it seems to be too dark to be blondish... We'll see - her looks are still a toss-up. Now that it's warming up outside, I think there's a chance that Ella will pick up some more color. But who knows? I think she's the cutest baby ever and I'm sure I'll think that no matter how certain features might change. I really did think she'd look a little more like me in the beginning - honestly, as soon as Ella came out I was like, "that's my baby?" "she's so blue - now she's sooo white, she doesn't look anything like me!" Here is the very first picture we took of her... She's changed sooo much, huh?

And here was what I was picturing would come out.... a baby that looked just like me!!! LOL

The funny thing is, my mom showed me the first picture that they took of me and I looked kind of scary, I have to say... I won't even post it! I'm not sure how old I am in the picture above, but I think I'm a couple of months old here... And these pictures are from 2 days ago - boy was she wiggly!!!! Well, she is presently wiggling all around in her monkey gym, looking up at me with this look like "are you done yet?" Time to play with baby!!!!

The cute and the goofy

My mom came to visit this past weekend so Ryan and I got to go out on a date! : ) We saw Taken, and can you believe it was the first time that Ryan and I have been to the movies since Ella was born? We used to go pretty regularly- we used to do lots of stuff - not so much anymore! : ) There is a crybaby matinee at a theatre downtown; I've been to that once with my friend Eri and her baby, Kai, but they only have one option (of a movie) per week. Speaking of Eri- she was kind enough to watch Ella for me so I could go in to work- the same morning I called her up! Someone's on vacation at work, and his fill-in got reassigned last minute and so I actually went in 2 extra days so far this week. That's a lot of working for me! But actually it's been okay : )

Ryan watched Ella yesterday, and even took her to her doctor's appointment. She is now 27 inches long, which puts her in the 95th percentile for length, and 16 pounds, 13 ounces which puts her in the 75th percentile for weight. She's actually always been in the 50-75th percentile range for her weight- the nurse told me she was in the 90th percentile on the last visit but she must have been reading the chart wrong (I happened to check on babycenter.com out of curiosity and then reconfirmed on the original growth charts.) Anyway - she's healthy! I didn't think I'd mind not being at her checkup but I think I asked Ryan over and over how it went, what did the doctor say, etc - more like an interrogation, so I guess I better go to the next one!

Although Ella was furious while getting her shots; she looks like she recovered pretty well, huh?

In this past week, I have snapped 111 pictures on my camera! Geesh! I didn't realize I was taking so many pictures! But I guess I will take about 5 or 6 of Ella doing exactly the same thing from just a slightly different angle! And sometimes she'll blink or make a funny face (kind of like me!) So, just for fun here are some of her goofiest pictures!!!!!

Just another day...

Hmmm, I finally figured out how to use the internet on my laptop (something is keeping our wireless from connecting, so we're using a landline until we figure that out), Ella is napping, Ryan's not getting home til late- I have the perfect chance to blog something and I cant think of anything to say!!!! Hmmm..... Well, let's talk about Ella!

Ella likes to babble "da-da" and if she's in bed with us she'll wiggle over to Ryan- cute! And she gets excited when Ryan comes home from work- she hears the door jiggling and she just knows it's her daddy : ) She's getting soooo close to sitting up unsupported and rolling over- every day she's getting better and better. I just started her on oats which she has been doing fine on- she mostly got rice cereal up til now, with tastes of other foods (some baby jar veggies/fruits and some frozen fruits in a strainer). We think she's starting to teeth but nothing visible yet. Her 6 month check-up is next week. I can't believe she's going to be 6 months old already! Where has the time gone?!?

Here are some pictures from the previous week... The first is Ella in her new jumperoo from my parents; the second is Ella limp as a noodle! The last picture I just took a few hours ago... She looks like she wants some food on that tray, huh?

Well, that's my little cutie pie : )

My mom is coming tomorrow, yippee! (Well probably, she's flying stand-by and you never know with stand-by- so you never want to get to excited about those maybe it's not going to happen plans...) No big plans yet but it's always nice to see your mommy : ) It's funny how after having Ella I appreciate my mom more. I wish she could come more often. Or just live next door. Hehe...

My Valentine...

Boy has my life changed so much from last year.... Valentine's Day last year I was pregnant and miserable! Ryan made the 30 plus minute drive to my workplace to take me out for lunch, and since I always love trying new places he took me to this Japanese restaurant right by my work. Well, before I could finish my lunch I had to run to the bathroom and I threw up EVERYTHING I had just eaten. It was ssssssssoooooo gross; I remember it felt so thick I thought I would choke on it - and to top it off it splashed the toilet water and vomit onto me. Oh my goodness, I hope I never go through that kind of all-day morning sickness ever again! Oh and then for dinner I really wanted Papa John's pizza.... The wait was forever and the entire thing was such an ordeal that when the pizza delivery man finally showed up I ended up rejecting the pizza and slamming the door in his face! I'm sure I told him that I was pregnant and hungry and he hadn't helped resolve the situation. Poor Ryan had a sad look on his face - he was hungry too! We ended up making a frozen pizza... Guess I didn't think that through when I lost it on the pizza guy...

This Valentine's Day should be a little more enjoyable for me : ) Ryan's taking me to an acrobat performance (if I can find the tickets!) and possibly a picnic, we'll see.... What means a lot is that I know Ryan is trying to make me happy -doing the kinds of things that I like... So, I actually meant for this post to highlight how wonderful Ryan is.... Throughout just being friends, then dating, being married and becoming parents together, Ryan has always been extraordinary. Yeah we had those newlywed fights, once I even dragged out my luggage with the intention to start packing I was so mad (who knows why? I got mad over pretty small stuff) but then I did the lower lip pout and asked Ryan if we could make up and get along again... Then after we had Ella, I swear my hormones were out to get Ryan! He didn't even do anything and I was just mad at him almost all the time! I resented how he didn't have to make the same changes as me- deciding on work, dealing with breastfeeding, etc. I'm happy to say that my hormones have come a little more into balance and I'm no longer having those kinds of feelings. I feel much more clear-headed now and I realize that I have the best husband ever. I really mean that, and I think that Ryan deserves credit for how great he is. So, I don't mean to brag or make anyone jealous or anything... but shouldn't I be able to brag a little?

Once Ryan gets home from work he changes Ella's diapers, feeds her, gets her ready for bed... When we're eating out he holds her so I can eat first. When we watch Mia and Aidan (our niece and nephew), Ryan is running the show. He makes dinner much more often than I do. He puts away the laundry since I just hate that last step in that never-ending cycle... He tidies up after himself all the time... I could keep going but I think it's clear he's pretty extraordinary, don't you think? Not to mention I know I can count on him to rescue me if my car won't start and I'm stuck somewhere, or if I did something stupid like run out of gas (yep that happened once.) And then there are the little things, like how he'll pause the DVR when I want to talk a little... which is like ten times during one show! There's just so many great things that he does... And he's super handsome! I would go on and on but I know that sort of thing can be annoying... so, that's it for now : )

Well, Happy Valentine's Day!