Amazing Baby!!!

So here's another video to freak you out. I do feel a little bad watching Ella do this, but I know that her having developed some survival skills is a worthwhile thing. I wish that the video didn't show a freeze frame of Ella the way it has it set though- face down in the water! I did not do that on purpose! Anyway, her lesson went okay today. She seems to be picking things up pretty well. I guess I might sound a little less than enthusiastic just because I know that it's stressing her out- however temporary it is. Just as soon as I handed Ella over to Glendy to get started, she cried in protest. But then afterward, she calmed down pretty quickly and smiled at Glendy a couple of times. And the rest of the day she was a pretty happy camper. So I know she's okay. I thought I was totally okay watching her swim lessons, but it does still make me hold my own breath a little!!!

If you're reading this and thinking I must be a crazy nut, then you might as well stop reading now because here's some more craziness... Ella used the toilet 4 times today! I know I said earlier that we're not potty training but now it's seeming like it's just naturally happening, honestly! When I changed Ella's diaper this morning I held her on the toilet, and without much urging at all, she peed! Then while I was feeding her breakfast, it seemed like she had to go number 2, so I took her out of the highchair and took her to the toilet. No luck. We went back to eating breakfast. Just a little bit later she farted (big time), so I took her out of the highchair and took her to the toilet again. It was just the right time- I don't think I needed to do anything- she immediately pooped in the potty! It may sound weird, but it was soooo exciting when it happened! Then later on in the day, after she'd had lunch, nursed, and napped for 2 1/2 hours, I thought we better do a diaper change/go to the potty. Her diaper was dry! After lunch, nursing, and a long nap? I think she must have held it. Once I put her on the potty, she peed liked she'd been saving some up! The last time she went, was with Ryan while he was getting her ready for bed. This has just been so amazing... She still does have dirty diapers, but I think if we just keep up with watching for her cues, I don't know, maybe she'll be out of diapers sooner than we'd anticipated. Anyway, I'm thinking of taking a video of Ella on the toilet- would that be weird? I don't know if I'm a good judge of what's weird anymore (or ever.)

Okay, well I am awake at 2am. Too much to do.....

Hold your breath!!!

Ella started her waterbabies class this week. It's a little non-traditional: private lessons 5 days in a row with Glendy Herron. You can look her up on facebook or myspace to find out more about her; her business is called Glendy's Waterbabies. Anyway, at the end of the week, Ella should have enough skills to roll onto her back and float, swim to the edge of a pool and hang on! So obviously, it's not a "fun" swim class- it's all about survival. Hopefully Ella will never be in water without an adult right there with her, but the reality is that drownings are a leading cause of death for young children, so better safe than sorry, right? Plus won't that be great when she can swim! Starting in May we'll be taking a "normal" waterbabies group class at the Kingwood Athletic Club. We'll probably continue taking classes throughout the summer, but we'll see how that goes in May first.

Yesterday was Ella's first lesson with Glendy and she did well, although she definitely cried a LOT! Afterward she held on to me sooo tight, poor thing. But later on she was as smiley as ever. Today's lesson went okay- I think it would have gone better but she didn't get a good nap in (more like a 5 minute snooze in the car!) I felt pretty guilty about that, since it was due to our going to watch a hula show right before. Anyway, tomorrow it is back to our usual routine so she'll get in a really good nap and have more energy for her lesson. And then I won't cringe as I watch...

Here is Ella with Bernie, who also has a baby girl right around Ella's age, Malia. I had a baby and I haven't really done anything with myself yet- Bernie, she's performing hula! So is Eri who's baby, Kai, is only a few weeks older than Ella. I think I should join their group, huh? I danced with Eri back in college (forever ago, hehe). Anyway, here's their website if you want to check it out...

http://www.alohapele.com

How time flies!

My cousin, Lisa, with Ella

Where has the time gone? Well, let's see... I took a short trip to Chicago - on fairly short notice. My cousin, Lisa, was going to be visiting my folks for a few days, and we hadn't seen each other since my wedding so I decided- heck, you can manage flying just you and the baby! And you know what? I really did! I'll admit it took me almost all morning to get myself together for the trip, and I almost missed the flight since I did not get there early enough- especially considering the check-in line was both super long and stagnant. In desperation I checked in at the "carry-on" kiosk even though I definitely intended to check my bag if not there then at the gate- so I just whizzed through security hoping that no one would give me a hard time about my hefty luggage- and no one did. But I did have a baby strapped to my chest; I'm thinking that may have had something to do with it. Ella slept for most of the flight, and upon waking cooed like the little cutie she is! Coming home I thought I would definitely have a hard time, since the flight ended up getting delayed, but I got lucky again - she nursed and slept while we waited to board, and this time we had the whole row to just us so I could really spread out. And sitting right behind us was an elderly couple that really engaged Ella every time she could peek through the space between the seats. Anytime she got a little fussy I'd just lift her up a little and point her at them, and they'd get her smiling : ) Oh, and the other thing I was worried about was having to use the toilet (I wasn't sure what to do with Ella if I had to go!), but for once I didn't even have the urge- it may sound funny, but that right there felt like divine intervention because I've been on the plane before and had to pee so bad, there was no waiting for that "fasten your seat belt" sign to go off... TMI? Sometimes I just don't know where to draw the line...

Hmm, anyway... the trip was good, short and sweet : ) Mostly a family visit but I got to see a few good friends which is always nice! One day I felt so nauseous in the car, I rolled down the window as far as it could go to see if I could fit my head out in case I needed to throw up suddenly... It reminded me of how I felt when I was pregnant with Ella... Well I did end up throwing up, but it was nothing to do with being pregnant - I checked, hehe...

Well, this seems to be a long post already so I think it's time to wrap it up. We're been busy, but you know it's mostly our daily routine (eat/sleep/eat/sleep/eat/sleep, hehe), not a whole lot to blog about... although at the risk of being judged, I will just go ahead and say that one of the most exciting things for me today was Ella going pee in the toilet! I'm not potty training Ella, but when I'm pretty sure she's got to pee, why not put her on the potty? She seems amused to be on the potty (you should see her smile), plus it seems more hygienic that her waste goes down the toilet versus her sitting in it... And I wouldn't say that I'm all that "green", but this would count as being environmentally friendly (okay now you can see I'm just throwing out all kinds of justifications for this.) Some people are really against early potty training (which like I said I'm not even really potty training), but the norm used to be to potty train your kids by 1 year, and doing some online research, it seems that a good portion of the world potty trains as infants... so as long as she's smiling about it, I'll keep doing it... And whether or not she pees, her smiles are always returned : )

I took this picture last week...

Ella was all excited about her little chair from Aunt Chris!!!

Soooo cute!!!

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!!!!