January 31st- Tent Peek a Boo

I love this picture. We took it at lunch today and it just sums up how happy this little girl is. She has opinions and will let you know them but overall we spend most of our time this happy. It is such a blessing. 

Ella's Christmas tent gets quite a bit of use. Ella and Matt often sit inside it and hang out. Today her favorite thing to do was play peek a boo with the tent flaps. She liked it so much she fell over laughing and almost took the tent with her.

January 30th- Cheeks!

Ella's new favorite thing to do while eating something she really really likes is to put as much of it in her mouth as possible. She fills those chubby cheeks. It is pretty funny, but terrible to watch as well. Hopefully this phase passes soon because it is a mess. 

January 29th- A Day at the Beach

Gigi thinks that since Ella can't move as well as usual she needs to see great sights. So Ella, Gigi and Nitsa went to the beach today. They walked and had lunch and saw seagulls and overall had a grand time. I got all their fabulous texts while at work.

January 28th - Get Well Visitors

Today was the full day with a broken leg. Mommy couldn't deal with going all day without her broken baby. Gigi was good enough to bring her to me at school and school was good enough to let her stay. I think some of them were stressed out as much as me. I was really okay, it was just better to have her with me.

Before she got to me she went shopping with Gigi looking for a new chair and some toys...

When we got home from school we had some get well visitors. Craig and Kate came by to check on Ella and play for a little bit. Ella and Kate were both wearing "Hug Me" shirts. Totally Cute. 

January 27th - How to cast a baby

Since Ella would not 'bear weight' on her right leg yesterday - the urgent care clinic wanted us to see the Baby Bone People today.  Once we went to Lucille Packard - the children's hospital at Stanford - we were in alternative universe!  Everything was munchkin friendly and we were whisked into the exam room.

Ella and the Doctors flirted together and when she stood up - grabbed their fingers and went to walk she did the most graceful limp you can imagine.  Her left foot went sideways and slid along and her right foot hung in the air - toe pointed and doing small circles that gave her the momentum to scoot along.  It was so awesomely graceful!  And that right foot never ever touched the floor!!!

They laughed - and predicted even before seeing the x - ray that this was a typical Toddlers Fracture - and sure enough - it was!  Babies instincts are like dogs - stay off of it and let the body heal!

Since Julia is teaching 'bones' as part of the biology class this week she was asking some questions - the doctor went into unusual detail about the structure of baby bones and how they become solid over time.  Lots of new detail for Julia's lessons. And once again - I am so in awe of the wonderous creatures we are - imagine - our bones float and are incased in jello so we can grow fast - bend easily and be safe.  Awesome creatures we are!

Conservative therapy says - hard cast it for 3 weeks and let it heal - although it will probably heal without doing anything too - but this is faster/probably less pain

Ella's so little the casting guy asked his 'mentor' to come in and help.  The smartest people are always the people who get backup.  Julia chose a purple cast - the white would get too dirty and the pink was ugly.

This picture is the easy part of putting the stocking and heel and knee pads on - Ella's thinking its all about tickles and giggles right now!

But then it got old - and she didn't really want her leg in that position or her foot locked up.  There was some yelling and hair grabbing and Ella got really really mad.  It took all three of them to wrestles sweat and mold the cast into place.  It was very very loud.  And Ella was the only one 'talking'!

I'm not sure who I felt sorrier for - Ella or the grownups?

At one point the 'Ambassador Nurse' came in to see if everyone was ok and how she could help.  The sound must have traveled?!   The Ambassador gave me a big hug - and that helped!  Well it helped me.

All done!  Awesome team work and Ella seems to be a forgiving soul - she left each of them a smile.  A sort of wet sobbing smile - but a smile!

We're sitting on the bench out front of the hospital waiting for Matt - Ella and Julia are both laughing - such a good sign!  It happened so fast it was over before Matt got there - but Ella and Julia were both so happy to see him.  Ella needed an adult who was not part of this nonsense and Julia needed some lovin' huggin!

Bonus: January 26th- 11 months old swimming!

Ella is 11 months old. She is a fast fast crawler. She pulls up on everything, including people, and has started to transfer from one place to another no hands. She also like to try to stand up from a squat and balances for a few seconds. I have mixed feelings about the walking, but maybe it will be slower than the crawling.

She says "hi" or "hi ya" when someone walking to the room. She loves to clap when you say yeah or someone else is clapping. I think she says "ma" and "da" to the correct people, but other times she just rattles these off. She likes to talk to herself when she is in her carseat.

She has learned to give her dolly hugs and kisses this past month and will almost blow kisses. She puts her hand to her mouth, it just doesn't quite come away. Her kisses are open mouthed and very sloppy. She will give high 5's but only at swim lessons and to certain people.

Swim lessons are the BEST. She puts her face in the water all on her own and happily splashes away. Gigi and Ella swim at least once a week, and it was so much fun last week they went 3 times. Ella is a little mermaid and it couldn't make me happier.

Ella will still let almost anyone hold her, as long as they have something interesting to play with. She loves to watch the crowd, especially if there is music.

Each night Daddy gives her a bath and they play some piano together. Sometime Ella likes to sit in his lap and play, other times she likes to stand at piano and stretch up to the keys.

These fantastic pictures were taken for us last weekend in Irvine by Rachel Spencer. Thank you Rachel for capturing such wonderful moments.

January 26th- Ella's First X-ray

Oh what an exciting day. As I sit her typing I am exhausted from the emotion of the day. I left for work this morning and at about 9:25 Gigi called me. I thought she was calling me because she was at the house to meet the guy who was coming to clean the ducts. No no, she was calling because Ella had a normal little fall but would not stop crying. Ella cries but not for more than a few mins at a time. This had been over 5 mins of a cry neither Gigi or Nitsa had heard before and Ella wouldn't move her leg. We agreed that they should hop in the car and head to Stanford Emergency Care. This is our clinics urgent car. They would call me when they got there if I needed to come right away. It is only 15 mins from my work.

I heard from them that Ella was happy but still not putting weight on her leg and they had an appointment at 11 so just hang out. I stayed at work. Just after 11 I called to check in and Gigi said they were x-raying her hip just incase. Well I guess I had used all my brave up because at that point I decided to get the heck out of work. I wrote the sub lesson on the board, talked to my boss and took off. I got there just as they finished x-raying Ella and she melted into my arms. Then she signed "milk" over and over again.

Long story short, the x-rays don't show any major breaks. We were referred over to the pediatric ortho guys for tomorrow. She still can't put her full weight on her right leg and she makes this whimpering sound when she tries. She is kinda mad that her leg doesn't work.  Hopefully it is just a little strain and everything will heal well. Tomorrow we will know more. She is asleep in her crib right now but I am sure I will let her snuggle up in our bed the first time she wakes up instead of making her wait like we normally try to do. It was a stressful day for Mommy. Gigi thinks she might have PTS grand-parenting.

January 25th- Mommy's Birthday

It was a wonderful birthday and we celebrated with a great dinner at Gigi's. Ella got her own dessert. It was a meringue cookie with whipped cream and strawberries. The kid loved it. No we did not let her eat the whole thing. But I am pretty sure that she could have done it. 

January 24th- SUSHI!

Tonight we went out for sushi dinner to celebrate my birthday tomorrow. After walking around downtown San Carlos we got some dinner. I figured "what the heck, how messy can it get"and gave Ella a whole roll of sushi. It was eel and avocado. She loved it. It did make a huge mess and we had to change her clothes before we left the restaurant. But who cares, it was a party. :)

January 23rd - Cutest purple bear.

We LOVE the Wiita hand me downs. It is some much fun to continue to get great clothes from those stylish little ladies up in Seattle. This is an incredibly adorable outfit.  I think Ella knew how cute it was too because she kept the hood up for most of the day.

January 22nd- Train Love

Christmas keeps coming over and over as the boxes arrive from the East Coast. This is the train that the Reider's got Ella for Christmas. She loves this thing. We don't even have to turn it on. She likes to push it around, take the blocks in and out of the seat and just sit on it. It is very very cute. 

January 21st-Too Fast

Ella is almost too fast to capture on camera these days. She is very snuggly at times and will give you hugs and kisses, but mostly she is on the go! 

January 20th- Former Students and Christmas Comes again

Today was the 1st day of second semester. It is hard to believe that half of the school year has passed. It is also harder to believe that Ella is almost 11 months old. The last year has flown by. Today Chris Vail one of my former students came by to do some yard work for us. He is in between jobs right now because in a few weeks he will be trying out for America's Got Talent. After his work he came in and was impressed with Matt's guitars. He gave Ella and I our own concert. She watched him for the whole song in awe. The kid has talent, I hope he makes the show. (It should be mentioned that he is 21 now so not really a kid any longer. But I refuse to admit that he could have been my student at 13 and now be that old......)

Great Betsy's Christmas present that Ella got to open in Baltimore arrived today as well. We had some great play time with the blocks and the back part of the train. Luckily for Mommy Ella has not found the on switch yet :)

When you play hard you have to nap hard:

January 19th - Welcome Home!

Beaker helped Matt pick us up at the airport today. Ella and I had an uneventful flight home from Orange County. Beaker was REALLY happy to see her. (Daddy was too.) Yes, Beaker did just climb on into Ella's car seat.

January 18th- Room with a View

Jean's house has steps that lead up to landing that over looks the living room. Ella LOVES it up there, looking down on everyone and squealing.

January 17th- Tidepooling and A flight to OC

Today was a BIG day. First we spent most of the morning and afternoon at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. I was leading an Adult Field Trip that we actioned off at the school fundraiser this fall. Today was a very low tide and made for great tide pools. The weather couldn't have been better and the sea life was out in full force. Matt was the sherpa and took great care of Ella. She did pass out about 30 mins into it.

After our field trip Ella and I got dropped off at SFO so we could head to So Cal for the rest of the weekend. Sarah Spencer's baby shower is tomorrow and that's a party we would not miss! Our flight was delayed and then loaded and we sat in the plane at the gate for an hour. So two hours later than we expected we arrived in Orange County.  There was a hula hoop contest to amuse us while we waited.