Ella {24 Weeks}

It has been another fun week for Ella! We had a few more outings, saw more of Ella's personality, and picked up a visitor from the airport!

Ella isn't eating real food for another week or so, but she has taken a liking to a couple new things. When I'm eating an apple or carrots I'll give her a slice [a big piece so she won't choke.. don't go calling CPS on me]. She loves them! 

The Big Ten hockey tournament was in Minneapolis this week, and while Mike was gone the Hockey Wives Club got together with the littles to watch the game. Ella was exhausted from all the playing, so she took a nap. An hour nap. On their guest bed. It was perfect!

When we put her down for Tummy Time, she often rolls over to her back.. so this was the next best thing to keep her on her tummy for a bit.

First ever painted toes!

New shades for those sunny days!

Lovin' bathtime!

Apparently she can crawl backwards? She started on that burp cloth...

Happy girl after a nap in her swing!

Visiting Dad at work... and wearing her new kicks!

Quality family time at the Pegula Ice Arena to watch the Pennsylvania high school hockey championships.

We ended the week by picking up our visitor for the week, Rachael! 

We took Ella ice skating for the first time...

And she wasn't such a fan! [she'll learn to like it!]

Have a wonderful week, wherever you are! 

We're definitely looking forward to our next visitors!

Ella {23 Weeks}

It seems like Spring is trying to start! We had a few nice days this week, so Ella and I took advantage of it. I think we're finally done hibernating for the winter, so we had a few outings this week. 

There are a lot of parks in this city, and I'm bound to explore many of them this summer. We got started by enjoying an afternoon at one park with some friends. We took a half-hour walk around the trails, then went to the playground and let the older kids play. Ella had a snack and played with a toy on the side while she tried not to get run over. It was a fantastic park and we made some fun friends... I think it will be a great summer!

I have been searching for things to do with Ella around town, and I found a Baby and Me Storytime at the library. We dropped in Wednesday morning, and apparently we were supposed to register [although it didn't say anything about that] so they let us stay, but we won't be able to go back for the remainder of the four-week series. Bummer. But we had a great time while we were there. We sang songs, read stories, and met some other kids about her age. Once it was over, I had about 30 minutes left on the parking meter, so we had to take advantage! We headed across the street to Panera, where I had a yummy latte and did some reading; Ella had a bottle and a great nap. 

One very nice day we actually took two walks. We just couldn't get enough fresh air! While we were taking the first walk, Ella was sitting in her carseat [it just pops right into her stroller while she's too small for the stroller itself] and she got kinda fussy and wanted out. So for the second walk I strapped her right into the stroller like a big girl, and she did great! She loved looking around; I hardly heard a peep from her the whole walk. She's getting so big!

This weekend was Penn State's last set of home hockey games for the season. Next week is the conference tournament, followed by NCAA playoffs. I haven't taken Ella to the last few games because she gets pretty upset when it gets loud. But we couldn't miss the very last game of the season! So we went. One of Mike's interns got Ella some ear plugs, which definitely helped. She still got a little scared when it got really loud, but she did much better than without them. And the kicker - Penn State won the game!

This one is a little late, but better late than never, right? A couple weeks ago when Mike was out of town for hockey, Ella and I enjoyed a girls' night out with a couple friends. We went to dinner and then to a fun concert, The Sing-off. This was an acapella singing competition show on NBC recently, and some of the groups are now on tour. It was a lot of fun, and Ella did great! She danced for the first part of the concert, then slept through the rest. 

I hope you enjoyed this warm weather just as much as we did. 

Here's to hoping for more soon!

Ella {22 Weeks}

How is this girl already five months old?!  I don't know, but she's tons of fun. She's getting to a point where she interacts with us, and she's always moving. She doesn't like to be lying down; she wants to be helped to sit or stand up [or even better, held] so she can look around and see what's going on. She still puts everything in her mouth, and she wants to be in on whatever it is we're doing.  Just like last week, she drops all of her toys. But now she likes to pick them up. She will repeatedly drop a toy and pick it up, drop a it and pick it up, drop it and pick it up. And the slobber. Oh man, the slobber....

When I run errands I usually put her entire car seat in the big part of the shopping cart, and she usually falls asleep. But in the past few weeks she has wanted out of her car seat halfway through a store, so I end up carrying her for a while. And man, she's getting heavy! So this week she sat in the cart like a big girl for the first time! She loved it, but now I understand the need for one of two things:  Clorox cart wipes or a cart cover. The cart handle was the most tempting chew toy ever. 

Another new thing Ella is enjoying is cups. She likes to help hold any cup we are drinking out of, and she likes to pretend she is drinking out of it herself. It might be time to find her one to play with that is more her size!

Now you'll have to excuse us... we're off to enjoy this spring-like weather!!

Ella {21 Weeks}

Apparently it takes twenty-one weeks to learn how to play the game. Ella has developed quite the ornery little personality as of late! For starters, she really doesn't like laying down; she likes to be upright so she can look around. For that reason, I put her in one of her 'seats' when I need to get something accomplished -- like her high chair, her bumbo, or her walker. I give her a couple toys to play with, and within a couple minutes they're both on the floor. One day she kept dropping them, so Mike gave her several toys at once. Within five minutes, they were all lying beside her on the floor in a nice little pile. Oh yes, she drops them intentionally. It has begun.

Another fun game she has started is the fake-cough/gag. Of course, when she sounds like she's gagging or choking I come right away. Well she figured that out, so now she has the sympathy cough down pat. She'll cough a couple times and sound like she's gagging, and when I look over she gets a big grin on her face. 

In addition to learning how to be ornery, she is also learning to sit and stand! It's with help of course, but she's starting to do it a little better each day. She still isn't rolling over on a consistent basis, but she'll do it every few days. Oh, and the babbling is starting. She definitely likes to make noise!

Ella and I are always looking for an excuse to get out of the house, so we visited Mike at work this week. There is a Subway in the Pegula Ice Arena, so we went "out" for lunch one day. It was a quick trip, but it was great to see him when the sun was still up! [and we even sat by a guy from iowa!]