Friday, June 23, 2006

HOT!!!

Wow...I don't know if I'm ready for summer. It it so freakin' hot outside...all the time. Even at night it's still hot. I don't know if I'm just having a hard time adjusting after being in Boston for 9 months or if we're really starting to feel the affects of global warming, but either way, it sucks! I'm not looking forward to our electricity bill because it seems like our AC is always running. I am very thankful that we have a pool to go to because it would be rough not having the possbility to be outside and yet stay cool at the same time because we do have some beautiful Florida days when there isn't a cloud in the sky. Yet, I am looking forward to rain as well.

For the few of you that I know who read my blogs, I hope your summer has gotten off to a great start. I know some of you are starting a new phase of your life and are in new places. I look forward to hearing about your new jobs and new adventures. And please know that you're always welcome at our house if you're in the area again and hopefully we'll be able to do some traveling and visit y'all.

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Ella's Stats

Ella's 12 month doctor's appointment was today and it went very well. She was playing with all the doctors and nurses while she was supposed to be getting weighed and measured. She enjoyed getting all the attention and has fun up auntil her one shot that she had to get. But, she recovered quickly...she only had to get her chicken pox vaccine, so it wasn't too traumatic for her.

As for her stats., Ella weighed 21.6 pounds which is about the 50th percentile and she is 29 1/2" long which is about the 60th percentile. So, she has definitely slowed down in the growth department in the past few months. But, I hear that's normal once they start getting around and being more active.

After getting a few things confirmed by the doctor, Ella will be weaned off formula this month, which I am very excited about! She's already been drinking whole milk, but it's nice to know that she can switch completely over and we're going to start giving her some juice, too! She's also pretty much weaned herself off of baby food, so I'll have to get more creative when I fix our dinners and make sure she'll be able to eat stuff that we eat as opposed to just giving her bread/crackers, tomatoes, cheese, etc.

Later in the afternoon we all went to the pool and had a blast. Ella is not afraid of anything when it comes to water. Our Community Center has three pools (two of them for kids) and we enjoyed all three. Ella was able to crawl around in the kiddie pools since they were only 6" deep at most points. She even went down couple slides with daddy. Needless to say, she came home very tired and went to bed soon after. And I'm very tired, too, so I'll type more later!

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Ella's 1 Year Update

This past week has been such a whirlwind I'm surprised this update is only a few days late! Last weekend we were in Jupiter, FL for my best friend's baby shower and Ella had a blast with her family! Then we drove to Port Orange Sunday evening to spend the next few days with Stephen's family who were going to fly out with us Wed to go to Boston for Stephen's graduation from Harvard. We were busy swimming, playing with dogs, shopping and celebrating Ella's birthday early with Stephen's family! I was very nervous about the flight to and from Boston because I had no idea how I was going to keep Ella still since we did not pay for her own seat. Thankfully the third seat next to us ws empty both ways so we were able to lay Ella down in between us to sleep. Granted, before she would sleep she was very antsy and loud!! But, overall it went a lot better than expected. We got back from Boston Fri around 5pm and immediately drove to Gainesville to pick up my G'ma so she would be here for Ella's party the next day. So, we didn't get back to Tallahassee until 11pm that evening.
Ella's party was in the afternoon that Sat. which was good because I had a lot of stuff to take care of before people started coming over! It was a small affair, but Ella still had a lot of fun and got a lot of cool toys that she really enjoys.

Yesterday we woke up to news about Tropical Storm Alberto. While in the process of taking my G'ma back to Gainesville, we had to decide whether we should turn around and just have her stay with us a couple more days since it was suppose to hit Cedar Key which is directly West of her, but she really wanted to get back and make sure she had her medication on hand just in case it turned out to be worse than expected. So, Ella and I didn't get back from Gainesville until 4:15pm yesterday and she and I both are ready to not travel anymore for a long while. She is so sick of her car seat and I'm sick of not being home and not getting the chance to finish unpacking, etc. So, we are here to stay for a while. I don't even want to think about going somewhere for a couple months.

Now, for Ella's official update...her 12 month doctor appt. isn't until this Thurs. so I will definitely blog again to give you those stats. But, as for her personality and social skills...she is blossoming every day and it's amazing what she's started doing just inthe past couple days! She is still not walking...I feel it could be any day now, but she is really not interested at this point. She is completely fine with crawling and cruising. She points at everything and says "that" and then we tell her what she's pointing at. She waves hello and goodbye to everyone! And just in the past couple days she has started this new belly dance. It's hard to explain, but it's pretty funny when you see it. She loves going up and down the stairs..we don't let her do it unless we're with her, but I'm thankful that she quickly learned how to go down the stairs backwards instead of head first! Ella has also learned the signal for touchdown and makes a noise everytime she does it and then starts clapping, so we're really excited for football season to come because she'll be ready!!! She's been eating weird lately. She stopped eating baby food completely...she just won't have anything to do with it. So, she'll eat crackers, tomatoes, bread, and cheese. She still only has 6 teeth...I think she's teething because the past couple days she's been a little difficult, but I can't tell where her teeth are coming in. So, we'll see if she gets some new ones here shortly.

Today, we went to the public library for story and singing time and she absolutely loved it! She enjoyed watching the other kids and we'll definitely be making this a weekly event. I just wish it was easier to get around Boston so we could've started this earlier. Better late than never I guess. So, Ella is sleeping right now and she should be out for another hour or so. You'll be hearing from me again on Thurs. and before I sign off I have to say Happy Birthday to Analise. It's a day late, but we were thinking about you yesterday!