Ella is 17 months old tomorrow- craziness. Everyone always comments on what a good baby she is and how laid back she is...that is all true...around other people. Ok, she's generally a good baby at home too, but she is definitely becoming more feisty. When she gets frustrated, she throws whatever is frustrating her. If she has something she's not supposed to, and you ask her to give it to you, half the time she politely hands it to you, the other half, she throws it on the ground as hard as she can and runs away. She's also starting to throw mini-tantrums, which make me laugh, but I'm trying to stay very serious so as not to encourage that type of behavior.
She is finally starting to talk a lot more, and she can say quite a few words. Mama, dada, ra ra (rylee), button (for belly or belly button), up, down, night night, I love you (she really says this even though she doesn't know what it means), balloon, wa wa (water), moo, meow, roar, wow, no, walmart (I know, weird). She is clearly trying to say lots more (and probably saying the words in her mind), but we just can't understand it. The funny thing is that she pretty much only uses words to identify things, but not to express needs. Like if she wants you to pick her up, she'll just put her arms up and whine. Yet, when she's going up the stairs to the slide, she goes, "up, up, up, up".
She also always drops words as she says new ones. Like she never says hi, bye, this, that or dog anymore. Or very rarely at least.
She is very silly, happy and playful, as evidenced in these videos. The first one is her grooving to her favorite song, "Forget You" by Cee-Lo. The second one is she and Rylee playing chase- they LOVE doing this- it's so cute.
Showing posts with label videos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label videos. Show all posts
Monday, March 7, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Dancin' Queen
Some recent fun Ella Facts:
(1) She is now saying "bye bye". It's like she wakes up with a new word everyday! She says "this" and "that" a lot too now. She also somehow learned how to say "Popple" at grandma's house...does anyone my age remember those from when we were young? They were little stuffed animals that turned into a ball?
(2) She blows on most of her food and most flowers. Grandma taught her to blow dandelions, so now she blows on all the flowers she picks. She watches me blow on her hot food before I feed it to her so now when she is feeding herself, she blows on everything before putting it in her mouth! Funny.
(3) She knows that "CHEESE!" means to smile big for the camera, so she's now a total ham when I pick up the camera.
(4) She is becoming a lot more FEISTY. My Lord that girl has a personality on her. When you say no (or yell it, scream it, cry it), she just calmly looks at you and does EXACTLY what you told her not to do. Twice. She has also started hitting Rylee- hard. It makes me VERY upset, and I don't know how to stop her (any advice?).
(5) Ella loves to dance! I finally uploaded part of the video from the other night, but she even has some new moves since then, including her "sumo" as Gary calls it. I will say, she prefers rap and hip hop to nursery rhymes...we are creating a monster.
(1) She is now saying "bye bye". It's like she wakes up with a new word everyday! She says "this" and "that" a lot too now. She also somehow learned how to say "Popple" at grandma's house...does anyone my age remember those from when we were young? They were little stuffed animals that turned into a ball?
(2) She blows on most of her food and most flowers. Grandma taught her to blow dandelions, so now she blows on all the flowers she picks. She watches me blow on her hot food before I feed it to her so now when she is feeding herself, she blows on everything before putting it in her mouth! Funny.
(3) She knows that "CHEESE!" means to smile big for the camera, so she's now a total ham when I pick up the camera.
(4) She is becoming a lot more FEISTY. My Lord that girl has a personality on her. When you say no (or yell it, scream it, cry it), she just calmly looks at you and does EXACTLY what you told her not to do. Twice. She has also started hitting Rylee- hard. It makes me VERY upset, and I don't know how to stop her (any advice?).
(5) Ella loves to dance! I finally uploaded part of the video from the other night, but she even has some new moves since then, including her "sumo" as Gary calls it. I will say, she prefers rap and hip hop to nursery rhymes...we are creating a monster.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Happy Birthday Daddy!
This was Gary's birthday weekend (his actual birthday is Monday), and Ella and I had nothing planned...in my defense, I threw him a big surprise party last year! I asked him if he wanted to get a babysitter, go to a fancy dinner, buy something nice, do something fun...anything. He said, "I just want to watch the Penn State Game with Ella, have a beer and eat Cannelloni." Silly boy. He didn't even want a cake or apple pie...just rice krispy treats!
Ella was a little too fond of daddy's beer bottle...
The rest of the weekend went like this:
Ella had her friends, Kaitlyn, Hannah, Ryan and Quinn over to play.
She woke up from her nap looking like Kate Gosselin (pre-extensions)...
While Rylee was innocently sleeping in her DOG bed, Ella (who has decided the dog bed is her favorite place to chill) got annoyed that Rylee dare fall asleep in her own bed and did this (notice the hand on the hip in the second photo)...
And life AS WE KNOW IT is gone...Ella has finally learned to do this...
Which led to this...
Ella went to IHOP for breakfast in her pajamas (and tutu!) early Sunday morning and had pancakes for the first time. Then we went to Costco where Ella had chocolate and vanilla frozen yogurt for the first time.
We went to grandma and grandpa's house for a birthday dinner on Sunday night. Ella flew with grandpa...
Helped Rylee eat a dog treat (I know, gross)...
Helped daddy open his present...
And blew out the candles on the apple pie...
HAPPY BIRHTDAY DADDY, WE LOVE YOU!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Vegas Baby!
Ok, now that the trip is over, I promise to stop saying that.
Saturday 4.24.10
We left the house at 8:07 a.m., and Ella was asleep in 7 minutes. Unfortunately, she only slept for 40 minutes and wouldn't sleep again until we left the Primm Outlets at 1:00 p.m.! She only slept for 40 minutes again, which brings us to Lesson No. 1...napping in the car is totally unpredictable, and even if you have a regularly awesome napper, the car is a whole different ballgame. We checked into our Piazza Suite at the Venetian. It was huge! The Piazza Suites have not yet been renovated like the regular suites, but the decor is still acceptable...more 'old school' as I like to say...similar to how most Ritz Carlton hotel rooms are decorated...not bad, just not modern.
Big marble foyer & half bathroom on left of foyer
After the foyer you enter the dining room with one of three flat screens
You then step down into the large living room/family room
Entrance of the bedroom off the dining room
Master bathroom sinks and jetted tub
We had dinner at Dos Caminos in the Palazzo- it was SO good! Their salsas and guacamole are absolutely delicious. Julie and I both got the Mahi Mahi tacos, which were really good. Our waiter was awesome- such great service and so genuinely nice. We had the girls with us of course, and he was telling us how his wife is due with a baby boy in a few weeks so he was observing us to see how it would be- so cute! He even brought us a dessert on him- platter of desserts with white and dark chocolate dipping sauces...strawberries, pineapple, bananas, marshmallows, coconut macaroons, brownies, banana churros and peanut butter bars...I know, decadent. Needless to say, he received a very generous tip!
Little Miss E wanting a taste of my margarita!
The group
Sunday 4.25.10
We went to breakfast at Grand Luxe Cafe and had their breakfast buffet, which consists of tons of pastries, bread, cereal, lots of fruit, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and an omelet station...my favorite part was the to die for fresh squeezed orange juice!
After Ella's nap, we headed down to the pool- it was Ella's first time ever going to a pool, and she LOVED it! The girl would not stop smiling and laughing, and instead of trying to get her feet to touch the bottom of the baby pool while she was in her ladybug floatie, she would just lie back and bask in the sun...very mommy like!
We were also apparently entertainment for the entire group of 50 people on the lawn area where we were sitting as everyone was oohing and aahing over Ella. Lesson No. 2...babies in Vegas are like cute girls at an all boys school...there aren't very many of them so they get A TON of attention!
Unfortunately, Julie, Ryan and Olivia weren't at the pool with us, which would turn out to be the theme of our trip...we basically didn't see them because the girls were on opposite schedules. Lesson No. 3...don't bother to go on trips with friends when you have babies because you will never see each other unless your babies are exactly the same age and on exactly the same schedule...and even then you likely won't see each other because Ella and Olivia are on similar schedules regularly, but being on vacation messed up the regular nap schedules. Lesson No. 4...if possible, always bring your Pack n Play or buy one when you get to your location because the cribs provided by hotels are not great. Luckily, after a fight to take her first nap in the hotel-issued crib, Ella slept like a CHAMP every other nap...Vegas wears a girl out!
After Ella's nap, we walked around the Canal Shops and had to get a picture with Ella's doppelganger:
There were opera singers in the the main piazza, and Ella was loving it! So when we got back to the room, we cranked up the ipod speakers and had a little dance party. :)
That night, Julie and I had our "girls night out" at Tao Asian Bistro. The food was AMAZING. We both had miso glazed sea bass and pork fried rice, and both were absolutely divine. My favorite meal in Vegas. Julie had a lychee martini, and I had a French martini, but they call it something else. The downside was the service. The waiter hardly paid attention to us, the food was brought out literally about 3 minutes after we ordered (how is that even possible?) so we didn't have any time to chat or enjoy our drinks before the food came, they asked to take our plates while we both still had fish and rice left and they brought our check before we even finished...trying to turn tables much? Despite the awful service, I would still go back just for the food!
Monday 4.26.10
We met J, R & O for breakfast at Grand Luxe Cafe and then headed back to the pool after Ella's nap. She wasn't nearly as enamored with the pool as she was the day before so I'm glad we weren't in Hawaii for 6 days where all there is to do is pool/beach! Luckily, J, R & O came down to the pool before we left so we at least took a bunch of pictures in the 5 minutes our time overlapped!
On a side note, the whole process of diapering while at the pool is not easy! You have to go down to the pool with a regular diaper on and no swimsuit, then change her into a swim diaper and bathing suit right before you get into the pool, then when you take her out again, you have to peel off the wet and sticky bathing suit (which btw, are not easy to get on and off) to put a regular diaper back on since swim diapers don't hold pee...and the process repeats over and over as many times as you get in and out of the pool. Ella pooped and peed on my towel at one point! Lesson No. 5...only buy 2 piece bathing suits from now on.
We all met up for dinner at Delmonico, and we were not impressed. I got the vine-ripened tomato salad, which was just ok. Gary and Julie got the gumbo, which to me, tasted sort of like black bean soup. The steaks were good and seasoned well, but both Ryan's and mine were overcooked, which is unacceptable for a nice steak restaurant. The mashed potatoes were not good at all (no flavor), and I did not care for the creamed corn. To top it all off, the service was not great. Our waiter, while attentive, was not not friendly or personable and bordered on snotty. I highly doubt this would have happened at Delmonico in New Orleans because we ate at much fancier restaurants in NOLA, and the service was never anything less than impeccable. I would not eat there again. However, they do make a nice looking martini ;)
I think this is the only family picture we got the entire trip, and I did it in our room with the auto timer!
Overall, it was a very fun trip, but Vegas is VERY different with babies! Lesson No. 6...if at all possible, always travel with a nanny and/or grandparents!
Saturday 4.24.10
We left the house at 8:07 a.m., and Ella was asleep in 7 minutes. Unfortunately, she only slept for 40 minutes and wouldn't sleep again until we left the Primm Outlets at 1:00 p.m.! She only slept for 40 minutes again, which brings us to Lesson No. 1...napping in the car is totally unpredictable, and even if you have a regularly awesome napper, the car is a whole different ballgame. We checked into our Piazza Suite at the Venetian. It was huge! The Piazza Suites have not yet been renovated like the regular suites, but the decor is still acceptable...more 'old school' as I like to say...similar to how most Ritz Carlton hotel rooms are decorated...not bad, just not modern.
Big marble foyer & half bathroom on left of foyer
After the foyer you enter the dining room with one of three flat screens
You then step down into the large living room/family room
Entrance of the bedroom off the dining room
Master bathroom sinks and jetted tub
We had dinner at Dos Caminos in the Palazzo- it was SO good! Their salsas and guacamole are absolutely delicious. Julie and I both got the Mahi Mahi tacos, which were really good. Our waiter was awesome- such great service and so genuinely nice. We had the girls with us of course, and he was telling us how his wife is due with a baby boy in a few weeks so he was observing us to see how it would be- so cute! He even brought us a dessert on him- platter of desserts with white and dark chocolate dipping sauces...strawberries, pineapple, bananas, marshmallows, coconut macaroons, brownies, banana churros and peanut butter bars...I know, decadent. Needless to say, he received a very generous tip!
Little Miss E wanting a taste of my margarita!
The group
Sunday 4.25.10
We went to breakfast at Grand Luxe Cafe and had their breakfast buffet, which consists of tons of pastries, bread, cereal, lots of fruit, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and an omelet station...my favorite part was the to die for fresh squeezed orange juice!
After Ella's nap, we headed down to the pool- it was Ella's first time ever going to a pool, and she LOVED it! The girl would not stop smiling and laughing, and instead of trying to get her feet to touch the bottom of the baby pool while she was in her ladybug floatie, she would just lie back and bask in the sun...very mommy like!
Unfortunately, Julie, Ryan and Olivia weren't at the pool with us, which would turn out to be the theme of our trip...we basically didn't see them because the girls were on opposite schedules. Lesson No. 3...don't bother to go on trips with friends when you have babies because you will never see each other unless your babies are exactly the same age and on exactly the same schedule...and even then you likely won't see each other because Ella and Olivia are on similar schedules regularly, but being on vacation messed up the regular nap schedules. Lesson No. 4...if possible, always bring your Pack n Play or buy one when you get to your location because the cribs provided by hotels are not great. Luckily, after a fight to take her first nap in the hotel-issued crib, Ella slept like a CHAMP every other nap...Vegas wears a girl out!
After Ella's nap, we walked around the Canal Shops and had to get a picture with Ella's doppelganger:
That night, Julie and I had our "girls night out" at Tao Asian Bistro. The food was AMAZING. We both had miso glazed sea bass and pork fried rice, and both were absolutely divine. My favorite meal in Vegas. Julie had a lychee martini, and I had a French martini, but they call it something else. The downside was the service. The waiter hardly paid attention to us, the food was brought out literally about 3 minutes after we ordered (how is that even possible?) so we didn't have any time to chat or enjoy our drinks before the food came, they asked to take our plates while we both still had fish and rice left and they brought our check before we even finished...trying to turn tables much? Despite the awful service, I would still go back just for the food!
Monday 4.26.10
We met J, R & O for breakfast at Grand Luxe Cafe and then headed back to the pool after Ella's nap. She wasn't nearly as enamored with the pool as she was the day before so I'm glad we weren't in Hawaii for 6 days where all there is to do is pool/beach! Luckily, J, R & O came down to the pool before we left so we at least took a bunch of pictures in the 5 minutes our time overlapped!
On a side note, the whole process of diapering while at the pool is not easy! You have to go down to the pool with a regular diaper on and no swimsuit, then change her into a swim diaper and bathing suit right before you get into the pool, then when you take her out again, you have to peel off the wet and sticky bathing suit (which btw, are not easy to get on and off) to put a regular diaper back on since swim diapers don't hold pee...and the process repeats over and over as many times as you get in and out of the pool. Ella pooped and peed on my towel at one point! Lesson No. 5...only buy 2 piece bathing suits from now on.
We all met up for dinner at Delmonico, and we were not impressed. I got the vine-ripened tomato salad, which was just ok. Gary and Julie got the gumbo, which to me, tasted sort of like black bean soup. The steaks were good and seasoned well, but both Ryan's and mine were overcooked, which is unacceptable for a nice steak restaurant. The mashed potatoes were not good at all (no flavor), and I did not care for the creamed corn. To top it all off, the service was not great. Our waiter, while attentive, was not not friendly or personable and bordered on snotty. I highly doubt this would have happened at Delmonico in New Orleans because we ate at much fancier restaurants in NOLA, and the service was never anything less than impeccable. I would not eat there again. However, they do make a nice looking martini ;)
Monday, April 19, 2010
Baptism Videos
Here are the only two very short videos we took on Ella's baptism day! I so prefer photos that we rarely bust out the video camera, but I wish we did because I know we'll love to look back on them.
In Ella news, she had peas today for the first time and seemed to love them. So far this kid will eat anything I give her (carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans and peas)...I'm enjoying it while it lasts because I hear once they get to table food, it's not so easy!
In Ella news, she had peas today for the first time and seemed to love them. So far this kid will eat anything I give her (carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans and peas)...I'm enjoying it while it lasts because I hear once they get to table food, it's not so easy!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Things We've Learned About Ella
In only 5.5 months, we've learned...
(1) Ella LOVES the camera...she is a total ham. She can be cracking up laughing at daddy, and as soon as I turn the camera on, she stares right at it endlessly (see video above).
(2) She loves to have you stick your tongue out at her (she will laugh and laugh), and she loves sticking her tongue out at you (see video above).
(3) She constantly turns over from her back to front but then gets PI$$ED because she can't turn back over! I find this funny since she started rolling from tummy to back, but now she absolutely will not do it!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
