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

Smiling Ella

Hey there,

Mike plans on posting a blog soon but I just thought I would share two of my favorite photos. This is what she looks like when she wakes up. Can life ever be bad when you wake up to this face???? :)

What Stays in Vegas, Melts in Vegas

Hey All,

Last summer the weather didn't bother me but now that I have a child who will either literally melt (which I don't care to see) or become dehydrated and cry (which I also don't care to deal with), it is a bit of a pain. This is Vegas's winter. Instead of being stuck indoors because because you'll freeze, instead you'll fry. Thus, Ella and I are now staying indoors. If I didn't have classes and didn't love Daddy that much, we would skip this popstand for the summer. We'll just have to suffice for taking weekend trips to San Diego and a week or so in Seattle.

Other than having all the liquid sucked out of us, the Murdock clan is great. Ella is changing from a little baby to a girl. She still loves TV and is now talking to it. She seems to really like sports and when there is a player interview, she coos at the player. Daddy is happy for the interest in sports but when I point out she may be flirting with men already he isn't happy. He reminds Ella that she is grounded until age 18.

She is also so smiley that we cannot get through a bottle without her breaking concentration to smile at the feeder. It is really funny. Mike is trying to get her to focus but she has her own ideas. That's my independent girl! She also wakes up with a smile in the morning, it melts my heart. Every morning we have our lovefest where she smiles and I tell her she is my favorite person in the whole world (don't tell her daddy...).

Finally, Ella has decided that she would like to become a Vegas entertainer and is currently working on her opening act of putting her entire fist in her mouth (see above photo). We're working on her disappearing act... She also inherited a new toy, her Bumbo. For those without children, Bumbos are crazy seats that help kids learn to sit. My mom thinks they look a bit like toilets and I think they look like those teacup rides at Disneyland. Regardless, she looks really cute encased in her Bumbo. The crap they have for kids...

Attached are some more recent photos of Ella, Ella with and her homies and gal pal (the above photos is with her boyfriend Jonah and is definitely Anne Geddes quality), and Ella in her Bumbo. http://www.flickr.com/photos/7822160@N02/sets/72157600635099625/