Ella Turns 2

Well, since the last post a lot has happened. Here are the high lights. She talks a lot, a regular energizer bunner. She also got her second hair cut and she turned two. According to Ella's doctor she is "cute, smart and precocious."

Here is video of Ella's second haircut -



And here are some birthday pictures
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesandmike/sets/72157617156248442/

Hey, is that a picture of a bunny on your blog?

We have not posted anything for awhile so here is a picture of a bunny (psst...it is Ella with a bunny mask)!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesandmike/sets/72157615169353880/

Live! From the top of our stairs, its Ella!

Here is a little bit of what Ella can do. She is preparing for her big break in show business.

Ella's first day of school

Well, Ella is growing up. Leslie dropped Ella off at school today for the first day of class. Here are a few photos of the big day. Both Leslie and Ella survived the day!

http://flickr.com/photos/lesandmike/sets/72157608432355326/

Ella at 18 Months and Friends

Hi All,

Apologies for not keeping this up. Too busy living life and have now gotten addicted to Facebook. Attached are new photos from Oct 2008. Highlights include spending much time at the park, going to Colorado for our 10 year Homecoming reunion (which was awesome despite the game score), attending many birthday parties for little ones, and going to the pumpkin patch with the crew. Enjoy the photos and we'll be in touch!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesandmike/sets/72157608324181455/

New Pics of Ella

Here are some new pics of Ella and even a little video. We were all up in Seattle visiting Gran Fran and Pops. The video is from the plane ride back, and yes, Ella is watching a baby Einstein movie on an iPod Touch.

First, the pics
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesandmike/sets/72157606757495559/

Now the movie

And she is off and running (well sorta)

It's the 4th of July and Ella created a little of her own fireworks for the family.

Hats off to some new photos

Ella has been keeping us really busy. She is starting to stand on her own and will walk with some help. Here are a few photos and we will post some more pictures later.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesandmike/sets/72157605677015995/

Ella turns 1!

Here is just a quick post to get some picutures of Ella's birthday up. I will post more later but enjoy these. Play close attention as there will be a test. Ready for the question? Guess who was the special guest at Ella's birthday?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesandmike/sets/72157604582415833/with/2420414434/

Our Laughing Jumping Bean

Trying to get the most use out of all the baby stuff that has taken over our home, I decided to put Ella in the "Deluxe" Jumperoo. Here's Ella's best impression of popcorn.

As the saying goes "A picture is worth a thousand words." Well, given how much Ella is laughing then I must look really silly. Watching Ella jump, I figured it looked fun and also started jumping up and down. Keep in mind that I was jumping up and down while recording this to capture her reaction.

Holy Cow....Is this a new post?

As you can see Ella has been stressed over the fact that we have not posted anything for awhile! We are very sorry, but Ella is getting bigger everyday and keeping us busy. Well, actually, not as busy as she could be keeping us because Ella has no interest in being mobile. We can sit her on the floor and she will stay put. Sure, we can move toys and other things that she is interested in out of her reach to encourage her to try and crawl, or scoot, or wiggle, or roll, or any type of movement but she has none of that. Rather than try and get at what had her attention, she will just shift her attention to something else. Leslie and I can keep moving everything out of her reach until it is just Ella and the floor. Lets just say that Ella can find a floor very very interesting!
Even though Ella does not have much interest in moving, she has mastered the art of eating. She is a very good eater and loves fruit and really loves blueberries. She has gotten very good at feeding herself and and at using her spiffy front teeth. She will bite down on anything she can, like fingers, to test her chompers.
Enough of me screwing up the English language and making Leslie and my mom cringe, all everyone really wants to see is pictures. I will post more soon but enjoy these for now!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesandmike/sets/72157603982977983/

Sorry Its Been So Long and Even Sorrier It Will Be a Bit Longer

Hi All,

The saying is that pictures (and videos) are worth a thousand words and we plan on using those "words" since Ella came down with a double ear infection and then she decided to share her cold with her parents. Here is the "quick and dirty" in bullet points because didn't all of our teachers all tell us that you can use bulletpoints to get your message across succinctly? :)

Ella:
*laughs alot
*crinkles her nose
*loves edamame
*hates sippy cups and avocados
*only rolls over for puffs or cell phones
*is absolutely addicted to her puffs (see Gerber advertisement video below)
*loves the feeling of Daddy's goatee when he kisses her face (see video above)
*loves going out for dinner with Mom, Dad, Aunt Jill, Grampa Steve and Gramma Sharon
*enjoyed her visits with Grandma Carole, Grandpa John, and GranFran
*has three teeth out and one more are about to make an appearance

We'll write more when we are out of our NyQuil induced state. Happy Holidays to all! Here are the latest photos... http://www.flickr.com/photos/7822160@N02/

Here's a video of the puff (aka "baby crack") addiction...

Clapping and Rocking Ella

We took this video about a month ago but thought it would be fun to post. She's even changed so much since then but her smile is the same. :) Ella loves to clap even if her parents help her out a bit! Don't mind Mike's narration and we promise we only minimally abuse our child by doing things like this to her... :)




Also, had to add one more of my favorite photos... She's our little rocker chic!

The Cutest Lobster/Vegas Girl in the World (According to Her Parents)

Hey All,

Ok, so my grandiose plan of writing more often lasted maybe a week. Amazing how life keeps you busy. In past little while, we have enjoyed visits from our parents/Ella's grandparents. Ella had wonderful visits from both of her out-of-town grandmas and Pops. I think she got spoiled from all the attention because now she only has one face to wake her up in the morning singing the good morning song, not at least two. Also, a big thank you to both grandmas who allowed Mike and I to sleep in and take some nights on the town. Anyone without children, seriously, enjoy sleeping in as there is no break from it. You cannot put a 6 month old on snooze. :) We had fun dates going out for dinner (later than 6 pm which also is a huge treat) and drinks with friends.

Ella gets more fun by the day and is getting so old. She smiles alot especially at her daddy who she thinks is the funniest person ever. She had been eating solid foods now and seems to like veggies better than fruits, she especially peas and loves green beans and peas (which smell terrible and are really fun to clean off of her:)). She still refuses to roll over. If she wants a toy, she'll reach for it and right before she'll roll over, she decides it isn't worth and rolls back. Parks and walks seem to bore her but the petroleum jelly box we use to moisturize her face gets her extremely excited. Ella is also trying to hold her own bottle and doesn't like it when you move her arms and legs, she wants to move them herself. Finally, she had found a way to watch TV even when we face her away from it (see attached pics).

Here are the latest pics of her from the month... http://www.flickr.com/photos/7822160@N02/sets/72157602395568393/
Check out the lobster costume for Halloween and her styling rocker chick outfits! Gosh, we are the most nauseating parents, totally infatuated with our child...

Ella's and the Rockies First World Series!

She is very excited!

Ella is teething

Every blog needs a picture with baby wearing a bowl on her head!

Hark, here is another blog posted by Mike and thus the slaughter of the English language shall continue. Well, Ella had such a fun weekend with her new Hawaiian friend Jenni. I think that both Jenni and Ella had a blast hanging and Ella was on her best behavior. She was all smiles and giggles for the weekend. She had such a good time if she could speak I know she would be asking when we can visit Jenni in Hawaii! Anyway, you can read about it over here --> http://jenniandbryan.blogspot.com/. I think the name of Jenni's post says it all. I have also posted a few more pictures on the flickr site for everyone to check out.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7822160@N02/sets/72157602238647636/

As for the picture up at the top of this post? Well, somethings just need to be done, and a baby with a bowl on their head is one of them. After all, when Les is in away, Ella and I shall play!

OOO My God, is this a new post!

Yes it is...Finally, a new post about the ever changing world of Ella (and maybe her parents). But, before I start, I would like to add a disclaimer. This post was entirely created by Mike and thus not proof read by anyone (mainly Leslie). All grammatical and spelling errors are the sole property of Mike and do not reflect the views of management!


That being said, on with Ella news. The past month has been a very busy for our little Ella. She has had her first dip in a pool and loved it. Les, Ella, and myself went to Grandpa Steve and Grandma Sharon's house for a very nice dip in their pool. Ella loved the water and had a great time. She did not even mind the silly hat we put on her. She was able to kick up a storm and seemed to take to the water very well.





Ella has also started eating solid foods. The first non-bottle food that she had was rice cereal. The second non-bottle food was rice cereal with prunes (read into that one all you want). Then it was on to oatmeal and peas! I have discovered, that much like bread landing with the butter side down, a small child with a mouth full of peas will sneeze. On her dad. Often. And right after he changes his shirt. For a second time.





Ella is starting to get more and more of a personality. She flatly refuses to roll over. Peer pressure does not seem to work. We have told her that all her friends are doing it but she will have nothing to do with it. She would rather bend her head and very unnatural angles than roll over, but I am sure it is only a matter of time!

That seems to be enough for now. Les and I will post more later as I am sure she has lots to say about our little Boo. But for now I think I have destroyed the English language enough and will sign off.
There will be a post shortly after this one with Leslie's corrections on this post. So, enjoy the pictures and you can find a few more here http://www.flickr.com/photos/7822160@N02/sets/72157602189116661/

Balancing Act

Hey All,

I am trying to maintain this blog a bit more often. I decided I/we are going to try to post at least once every week or 2 weeks or so. I have also decided that while Ella is 90% of our focus it is important to write about other aspects of life so I am going to try to be a more diverse writer. It is amazing, though, with a child you find yourself getting excited over and doing different activities that you used to. Life outside the child becomes more routine as the child plays the less routine part. Also, right now Vegas is still too hot to do anything exciting so as soon as the weather cools down, we will be hitting the town more often.

New things about Ella: While we assume that we know what our child likes, it is reaffirmed when a non-family member notices. We have had a substitute nanny with us this week and without us telling her anything about these subjects, she noticed that Ella likes elephants and responds with all smiles to "good morning." Whenever we give her an elephant toy, she goes crazy and she did this with the nanny. Also, Fernanda (the nanny) said good morning when Ella woke up from her nap and she got really excited. We have this whole routine in the morning where I start with "Where is she? Where's Ella?" and then say "there she is, good morning." When she sees me she goes crazy. In case anyone wonders what excitement/craziness is with a baby, it is legs kicking, babbling/shrieking (Ella is now shrieking which is weird but cute) and major smiles. She also loves to dance around the room with me. This kid is happiest bouncing up and down and again will hit roller coasters as soon as she makes the height requirement.

I started classes again and am actually liking them, particularly property. Big nerd I am! :) For the many non-laywers reading this, it is a class that helps you figure out who has rights to what. This week I found out that if you find something, as a finder, you have rights that entitle you to the item over other people who claim/find it but not over the true owner. The true owner has ultimate rights. I also found out that if you find something, lose it, and then someone else finds it, the law protects your right as the first finder. The law in finding property protects the true owner but also finders because if pure possession of an item were all you needed, people would be swiping items left and right. I love law that follows public policy. This class makes me want to take dated photos of all my valuables in case I ever lose them. I will then have claim to them.

Ok, enough from me...this is already way too long for the average attention span. Love to all and talk to you soon!

A new post? Now that is something to drool over!

I know that it has been a really long time since anything has been posted and that is my fault. Life has been moving along and the last thing I want to do at night is sit in front of a computer. Anyway, enough about me, everyone is here for Ella news. She is becoming a very fun little human! She is drooling, babbling, drooling, grabbing things, drooling, smiling a lot, drooling, and blowing raspberries. It is truly amazing how much she has changes every day.

In the past month she has become a very good traveler. First she went to San Diego to visit Grandpa Steve and Grandma Sharon! While I was busy with work, Leslie and Ella loaded up the car and headed to the West coast. Leslie mainly did this so that she could take Ella outside with out the fear of her melting in the Vegas heat. After that we all headed to Seattle for some time with Gran Fran and Pops! Flying out to Seattle was a breeze for me, mainly because Ella and Leslie went 3 days before me. But, the flight back from Seattle was pretty easy. As soon as we took off Ella passed out for the entire flight and did not wake up until we hit baggage claim.

While in Seattle Ella was very insistent being a tourist and seeing where her mommy grew up and seeing all the sights of Leslie's past. Strangely enough all the sites involved getting and drinking coffee. In between getting coffee we saw lots of friends and sites. Ella had a fun day going to the Pike Place Market.

Leslie and I did take advantage of the top notch baby sitting provided by Gran Fran and went to the Inn at Langley on Whidbey Island for a night away to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. We took advantage of the amazing six course meal they offer and Leslie even tried duck (which she liked but will not try again due to her loyalty to Donald and Daffy). We laughed because anniversarie usually entailed activities and being on the go but now it is about catching up on sleep. We took every opportunity to nap.

I know that I have droned on long enough and I know that you are all here to see pictures of Ella and not really hear what I have to say. So, without further ado here is a link to a month's worth of pictures of Ella!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7822160@N02/sets/72157601562928247/

Cheers
Mike