We Have a Rocker

I really thought Ella was going to go straight from army crawling/scooting to walking, but apparently, she does have a crawl in there somewhere...she really starting getting on all fours and rocking on Monday (she'd been doing it in her crib for awhile but never on solid ground).  She has no interest in crawling from that position yet, but it looks like it may happen!

And can someone tell me how she keeps doing this?!  It happens in about 1.2 seconds.  I see her pull off the square, turn my head, and next thing I know she has her body through it.  She's a squirmy one!

Olivia Turns One!

Actually, Olivia turned 1 on June 12th, but her 'Ice Cream' themed birthday party was today.  Julie had lots of cute decorations and little ice cream touches, and Olivia's outfit was so adorable!!

These are ice cream bubbles!

Ice cream 'poppers'

Ice cream cookies that Julie's sister made!

Julie had a really fun clown-ish girl come, who played games, painted hands, made balloon animals- really cute...




You did a great job Jurie!

Playdate & Daddy's Gifts

Today Tracy and Grace came over to pick up Grace's hair clips and play with Ella.  How cute do these two look both wearing their 70's shorts rompers?!


I forgot to post in the Father's Day post that Gary got a new iMac and iPod Touch for Father's Day, but the best gift of all was this sweetness...

Happy Father's Day Weekend!

On Friday, Elizabeth, Ashley and Katie came to visit- it was great to spend time with them!  Ella was of course enthralled with the older girls.

Friday night, Gary and I went out to dinner at Javier's with Lindley and Steve...it was our FIRST night out with another couple (sans kids) in over 8 months!!  It was so nice to go out with other adults and be kid free!

Grandma and grandpa babysat for us so before we left, we decided to try out the interactive rocking horse that they got Ella last Christmas.  She still doesn't get the concept of holding the reins or handles, but she thought the fact that it neighs and moves its head and tail was pretty funny!



On Sunday, we went to grandma and grandpa's for a BBQ (grammy, pop-pop and great-grandpa came too) to celebrate Father's Day.  Ella took pictures with everyone!

All the daddies (grandpa, daddy, great-grandpa and pop-pop)

The grandparents

Mommy and daddy

Not a good picture of Ella, but it shows her cute dress. :)

Then we opened gifts, and Ella's favorite thing was grandpa's giant tube of bubblegum!

After gifts we ate a delicious meal of ribs, corn on the cob, broccoli salad, potato salad, baked beans, fruit, raspberry cream cupcakes and apple pie cake...needless to say, we were REALLY full. Leave it to my mom to "dad" theme everything!







A little more grammy and pop-pop time, and then it was time for bed!



It was a great day, and Ella is so lucky to have the BEST daddy in the entire world!!!

I Think I've Created a Monster?

When you have a fairly easy baby, who is VERY scheduled, you get kind of spoiled.  "Oh, I can be there at 10:15, Ella ALWAYS sleeps from 8:30 to 10" or "Sure, any time between 10 and 1:30 because Ella ALWAYS goes down right at 1:30 and sleeps until 3".  When will I learn that NOTHING is certain when you have a baby?

First, I don't know if she's teething or just turning into a more difficult kid, but she has been so cranky pants lately.  Whining, screaming before every nap and bedtime (which she never does), throwing things, refusing her solids...seriously...can the terrible 2's start at 8 months?  Ok, so it's only been 2 days of this, but it feels like a month.

Anyway, I had a courtcall this morning (one where I was going to have to talk to the judge) at 8:30, and they are usually pretty quick so no problem, I don't need the nanny until her regular time at 10.  This is how my morning went...

8:25 Put Ella down, call the court.
8:25-8:55 Shocked that I'm still waiting for my case to be called.
8:55 Ella wakes up after sleeping for only 30 minutes (she NEVER only sleeps 30 mins).
9:05 Ella is still awake and has somehow manages to get her arm stuck in her sleeper, which causes her to start crying.
9:06 While still on the phone with the court, I go into Ella's room to free her arm and immediately leave as Ella starts screaming bloody murder because now she's seen me.
9:06-9:15 Ella screams in her crib, and I can't do anything because if my case gets called, I have to talk, and they prefer to not have screaming babies over the phone in open court.
9:15 Ella falls back asleep, and I wonder why the judge has not said anything in about 15 minutes, as I'm thinking I missed him calling my case during all the screaming, so I say, "uh hello?" to which the clerk replies, "counsel, please stand by, the judge is in chambers on another case." How am I supposed to know that?!
9:25 My case gets called JUST in time for Ella to wake up AGAIN and start fussing. AAAAHHHH!
9:33 My courtcall is over, and Ella finally falls back asleep for the second time.

Really?

Become a Fan of our New Facebook Page!

Little Chicken Baby Boutique has it's very own Facebook page now...become a fan!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Little-Chicken-Baby-Boutique/132236990129460

Can Someone Tell Me How This Happens?

Little Pretties

Here is my first bib/burp cloth order!

We've Got a Crawler/Army Crawler/Roller/Scooter???

Over the weekend, Ella started doing this sort of crawling, army crawling, rolling, scooting thing.  We got some video but haven't caught her really going- she'll do it quickly from one end of the room to the other!  It's hilarious because her left arm is always bent in an army crawl position, and her right arm is always straight out.  She uses both arms (in those positions) to pull herself along the floor...I don't think she uses her legs at all!  Then she'll decided to just roll and roll and roll.

Here are two short videos that show a variety of her new moves! ;)

If Only There Were More Hours in the Day...Weekend Edition

My mom says I thrive on doing 100 things at once so I guess I bring the craziness on myself...and I love every minute of it. :)

Things I did this weekend:
*Went out with the girls 2 nights in a row;
*Hosted a BBQ for 22 adults and 11 babies;
*Drove to San Diego to visit family;
*Ran errands, cleaned the house, did laundry, started creating a new craft room in the spare bedroom, started organizing and decorating my new office (photos coming soon!), went to Costco twice (and Gary went once), went to Michaels three times, did some work for both my 'real' job and my 'side' job.

It all started on Thursday night...

Thursday I went to RA Sushi with Jennifer and Molly (M is 10 months pregnant and thankfully did not have the baby at happy hour!)...it was so packed because the Laker game was on, but luckily we got a seat...and TONS of appetizers and sushi.  I really think we got every single thing on the happy hour menu, and our bill was only $33.  Love that frickin place.  Thanks for treating Jennifer!

Friday I went to Opah with Tracy and Jen...we were supposed to go to Lazy Dog, but the wait was an hour long!  It was great though- delicious martinis, and I think the best spinach/artichoke/crab dip with these to-die-for fried pita bread wedges I have ever eaten in my life.  It was so fun to catch up!!!!

Saturday, Gary and I hosted a bbq for some of the girls in my mommy group, and I think it was a big success!  At least I know we had a great time, and Gary loved meeting the other dads.  He hears about the girls all the time so it was fun to all get together.  I think he's going to spearhead a 'dad's night out'...that can only be trouble. ;)

Sunday, we drove down to San Diego to meet our new nephew, Brice.  He's so cute and tiny!  I can't remember Ella ever being that small, and she was 40% smaller than he is!!

 

Look at how Ella is mad-dogging him in this picture...priceless!

 And what poor Brett has to deal with...

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, this is what happens when you set your baby down in the middle of her play area and turn around for about 3 seconds...

She immediately (and quickly!) rolls or scoots her way to edge, pulls off one of the squares, pulls out the letter to chew on and somehow gets the square stuck all the way up her leg?

Up next...another busy two weeks!

Oh, and I've already received lots of orders through my Etsy store...lots from friends so thank you all so much for supporting my new venture!  I've received lots of requests for Ella's birds and butterflies blanket so I do think I'm going to start making blankets...I'll be heading up to LA soon to get more supplies. :)

Introducing...

LITTLE CHICKEN BABY BOUTIQUE (click on this link to go to store)

My new Etsy store!  I finished listing all the items I have right now (but keep checking back because I'll be adding lots more!).

Tell your friends!

Oh, and if you're wondering where the name came from, I've always called Ella "Little Chicken" or "Chicken".  I have no idea why or where I got that from, but the store is named for my little chicken! :)

Why I'm Happy Today...

(1) Our new newphew, Brice Michael Tanner was born this morning!

(2) Ella fast asleep, Gary out at a business dinner, and me blasting my music and dancing while I do laundry and cleaning. :)

It's Almost Here...

I have all the pictures taken, descriptions written, pricing determined and storefront complete...now all I need to do is list everything in my new Etsy store! I'll be back with the link and grand opening announcement very soon- I know it's taken a while, but I'm trying to do this all after work and on the weekends since I do still have a 'day' job! ;) In the meantime, here is my Top Model showcasing one of my very favorite flowers...

8 Months Old

Ella is 8 months old!  Only four months away from being a year old…I better get crackin’ on the birthday party preparation. ;)

We get more and more personality everyday.  She says all sorts of syllables, but her favorite thing is simply screeching and yelling…she is definitely learning her voice (and apparently loving the sound of it!).  She knows Rylee by name so if you say, “where’s Rylee?” she immediately looks at Rylee.  Of course if you say, “where’s mama?” or “where’s dada?” she just looks at her toys.  Nice.  I’m predicting “Rylee” as her first word.  She laughs all the time (and has just started snorting?), but can go from cracking up to completely serious in ½ a second.  She is a very happy baby but you will hear about it if she’s hungry, tired or bored.  Sometime between 7 and 8 months, she went from a mama’s girl to a TOTAL daddy’s girl.  She sees me, and it’s like “eh” (I’m not feeling the love lately!), but she sees daddy, and it’s like a friggin party!  She absolutely positively LOVES people.  She can be in the worst mood ever, and you walk her around a mall or somewhere with tons of people, and she’ll start hysterically laughing.  She still has no stranger anxiety (thank goodness), but she will cry now if everyone leaves the room.  She needs at least one person in the room with her for her entertainment. ;)

Her favorite toy is my old telephone rattle, but she's happy to play with anything that she can hold and get into her mouth.  She recently started exploring faces and will grab your nose or skin and touch everything.  Today I had on a hat with bling, and she was all about pulling up and down on the brim and touching the rhinestones.

She is still rolling like a mad woman.  She tries to almost pull herself up on our legs when we're laying down next to her, but she hasn't tried to pull herself up on any objects.  She sort of scoots herself forward when she's on her belly, but sometimes she accidentally turns over.  No crawling yet!

She has her two bottom teeth, which thank God did not affect her sleep and only slightly affected her mood.  We just started trying to give her solids 3 times a day (morning, noon and night), up from once a day.  She still eats oatmeal and purees for meals, but she finally started liking puffs and actually gumming them rather than swallowing them whole and choking.  Yesterday, we gave her Gerber pureed turkey with gravy, and she seems to like it!  We stopped her dream feed about 2 weeks ago so she gets 4 bottles a day, all about 6 oz. (the bedtime bottle is usually 8 oz.).

She still sleeps through the night (6:30/7 p.m. to about 6 a.m.) but often wakes up between 5:30 and 6 a.m.!!  The girl is an EARLY riser.  It’s not much of a problem because Gary gets up really early anyway (even on weekends), but if he has to travel for work, we are going to need to change some things around here.

We think she is about 18.5 pounds, and probably really tall because even 9 month size sleepers are too short for her so I just started buying her 12 month sleepers!  We have a future super model on our hands. ;)  She can wear anywhere from 3-6 month to 12 month in dresses, but is pretty much in 9 month for other clothes.  She recently moved up to a size 3 in diapers.

You're probably wondering where the monthly sign is...I think we're done with that. This was the best picture we could get...

But she immediately did this...

So Alex tried to hold the sign, which resulted in this series of photos...



And then she decided she'd relax.

Birthday Weekend

We went to Santa Barbara for my birthday weekend, and we had a great time!

Here is Miss E before we left in her cute new Naartjie outfit from grandma.

We drove up Friday, and Gary and I took Ella to UCSB to show her all our favorite places.

My sorority house.

Woodstock's Pizza.

Sam's To Go.

And what was formerly IVBC (but is now a hall for classes!).

She absolutely LOVED walking around IV.  It was pretty funny since I don't think in the 4 years I was there, I ever saw a baby in IV- she was absolutely cracking up!  It was probably all the kids riding bikes everywhere.  She definitely got a lot of stares.  Gary and I got all nostalgic...do you think it would be weird if we moved onto DP (the street right on the ocean) in our 30's with a baby?

Oops, I forgot to write about dinner on Friday night!  My parents took us to The Harbor Restaurant on the pier.  Even though it was overcast on the water, it was still a beautiful view!  Ella dined on puffs, while the rest of us had halibut and steak.  I got the first of my birthday desserts...cheesecake with raspberry sauce.  I don't even like cheesecake, but this one was very good!

On Saturday, we all walked around State Street (ok, we mostly walked around Naartjie while we tried to prevent grandma from buying 20 more outfits for E!), and then we went to lunch at Paradise Cafe.

After E's nap, Gary and I took she and Rylee to Hendry's Beach for Ella's first experience in the sand and ocean water! She loved the beach and looking at the waves but hated the freezing cold water.









Saturday night, Gary took me for my birthday dinner at one of my very favorite restaurants, Lucky's, in Montecito (seriously, you MUST try this place if you are anywhere near SB...it's one of Oprah's favs too!). We had filet mignon, garlic mashed potatoes, creamed corn and a *very* strong martini called a "green envy". They also brought me a delicious birthday sundae in a martini glass...of course I forgot to take pictures of the food, as usual.

Before dinner, we took some family portraits.

This is what happened when we tried to include Rylee.


On Sunday morning (my actual birthday), we went to breakfast at D'Angelo's Bakery. I was dying to go here because I saw it featured on one of the episodes of "Best Thing I Ever Ate" on Food Network. I actually ordered exactly what was featured on the show..."Eggs Rose"...kalamatta olive bread with artichoke spread topped with poached eggs. Yum.

We were going to stay in SB for the day, but we decided to hit the road early, which was a very smart decision because there was no traffic, and we got home in under 2 hours!!! We're just relaxing for the rest of the day and probably going out to a casual dinner to watch the Laker game. :)

By the way, thank you so much everyone for all the birthday emails, texts, messages and Facebook shout outs...it means so much to me, and I love you all!