A Happy Christmas

What a nice surprise -- Ella loves Santa!
This is technically Ella's second Christmas but since she was only five days old last year, it hardly counts. So, for the first time we're enjoying Christmas through the eyes of our child. And I believe it is true, the magic returns. I mean to say, I always cherish the Christmas season for the precious gift it is ~ Christ's birth. But the wonder of everything else, a grand tree, sparkling lights, a kind old fat man dressed in red, fades over time. But now it is renewed once more and creates a special warmth that just makes you want to do good and be kind.

Daddy came home for a long lunch today and we took Ella to visit the jolly ole soul at the nearby mall. I was fearful, partly because my first photo with Santa shows a bellowing, red-faced six month old. Miss Ella chose to put my fears to rest. As we approached Santa's "village" she began smiling ear to ear. Well, see for youself. What a wonderful memory.

A Step in the Right Direction

Look who decided to start walking behind her "push toy". As usual, she decided to share this first, as she has almost all others, with Daddy. I came home from work on Saturday and guess who came tearing out of her room behind the little "scooter"? It surely won't be long now until she takes those first few steps, with Daddy of course.

~Religious tangent~

I've been struggling a bit lately with many things. Occasionally I have felt my faith waver a bit. But I was re-invigorated yesterday at Church. Seeking a sign that God is there and knows my fears and worries and is real and loves me, my mind was heavy during Mass. And for some reason I dressed Ella in her little red outfit. It turns out the vestments on Sunday were red, because it was the Feast day for Christ. Then during Mass I looked down and noticed, in small script, the sleeve of the shirt read, "I love you". Some of you may shake this off as coincidence, but I believe it was my sign. What a wonderful way to begin the Advent season.

Thankful for Southern Manners

At this point, most of you have probably eaten about as much leftover turkey and dressing as you can handle. And although there were no posts from us on Thanksgiving, we were thinking of each and every family member and dear friend, near and far.

Luckily, we did not spend the holiday (Ella's first Thanksgiving) alone. We were invited by some friends to enjoy the feast at their home, just a few blocks from our own. There's a backstory here that is one of my favorites so far in the little lives we lead. ~

Early last summer Matt was shopping at the Albertsons grocery store just down the street. Once everything was loaded in the car he went to return the buggy (cart for all my Yankee friends). He saw a woman entering the store and said, "Excuse me ma'am would you like to take my buggy?" The woman turned to him and exclaimed, "Matt (last name)!" It turns out the nice woman went to Duluth High School (3,000 miles away) with us. She was known then as Aimee Planche but is now married to a very nice man she met here in California. They have a lovely home, just a few blocks from ours, and are expecting their first child in February. Of all the people in Southern California and all the places to live, what are the chances? It turns out, although we didn't really travel in the same circles in high school, we have quite a bit in common. And we are thankful for their friendship. Since Aimee's pregnancy, her mother has sold her home in Georgia and has moved out here. She is a delight. They insisted we share Thanksgiving with them and we had a wonderful time. It just goes to show you -- good manners lead to good things.

Hope you all had a blessed and joyful Thanksgiving.

Naked Girl

As we approach her first birthday, Miss Ella is more and more content to be in her "birthday suit". The other night I stripped her down for her bath and as I turned to grab something she took off, naked as a jay bird. She had a look of freedom on her face and I was happy with that so long as freedom didn't turn into release, if you know what I mean.

Story Time

Daddy came home from work tonight and Ella's love for Mommy went out the window. She climbed up his shins and whined until he picked her up. Off to her room they went for toys and stories. Daddy read her favorite Pooh story -- which you can see she thoroughly enjoyed.



Tonight after her bath we're going to attempt to put some salve on her little knuckle. She has the first of many of what Daddy calls "road rashes". She took a pretty serious tumble this weekend under Daddy's watch. She pushed on a table outside which gave way and sent her sliding on concrete. Unfortunately one of Grandmom M.'s pitchers along with some tender baby skin were the suffering casualties.

Where is the time going?

Okay -- so I've been too busy to blog lately. It seems like just yesterday we were carving pumpkins and now it's almost time to carve the turkey!

Miss Ella is eleven months old today so I thought I'd better get to tapping on the old keyboard.

So to catch you up...Babci came out to visit on the weekend of the 11th because Daddy went home for the Georgia vs. Auburn game. It's a father son weekend he enjoys with Granddad, his best friend, Miles (also Ella's Godfather) and his father. The game had a sad ending for the Tigers but I think the boys had a good time. Daddy brought back a cool Auburn bucket (used for serving popcorn at the game) which has now become one of Ella's favorite "toys". She likes putting her face inside and making noise.

At any rate, Ella and Mommy enjoyed Babci's company. It's amazing how much grandparents enjoy the feeding, clothing, poopy diaper changing, all of it. I didn't have to do much but prepare meals and bathe Ella all weekend. Ahh -- wish family could be closer so I could slack off from time to time.

Babci (and Granddad) also gave Ella her very first Elmo and a swing for the front yard. She loves them both dearly and enjoys them every day.

So, now Thanksgiving is upon us and Christmas is right around the corner. Mommy's been furiously shopping on-line and having everything shipped to various addresses back home in Georgia. We'll be enjoying Christmas back there this year. Miss Ella will also be turning one year old on December 20th so arrangements are being made to celebrate the big event. Sometimes mommy feels like a dog chasing its tail.

In the meantime -- we've been invited to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with some friends who live nearby. I (as most news people know) will be working on turkey day and the day after. Since I'm freelance I could have kept my usual "weekends only" schedule but it's time and a half pay and who can resist that? Did I mention Christmas is right around the corner?

As for Miss Ella's progress -- she's getting more confident every day. She's creeping from furniture to furniture sometimes one-handed. She's getting faster and more stable as she's walking while holding our hands and everyone says she's almost ready to go it alone. We're not pushing her though. She's really into imitating us now which is quite cute. She dances whenever she hears any kind of music -- on the telelvision or coming from one of her toys. Her new thing is vibrating her lips -- making that "car revving up" sound. She did it the entire way through Target the other day. It's endearing to those who only have to hear it for a few seconds as they pass by.

Election Day

Hope everyone got out to the polls and voted yesterday. All I have to say is -- you win some, you lose some. But that's the beautiful thing about democracy -- the pendulum swings -- keeping everything in balance. We live in a wonderful, beautiful, diverse country and we are Blessed.

Our venture to vote became quite an adventure. The polling place was the Jewish center which is literally at the end of our street. So Ella and I strolled over shortly after the polls opened. Unfortunately, I did not see a "wheelchair friendly" entrance so I lugged Ella and the big stroller up several steps. Once inside I caused a flurry of activity when I revealed that I did not have a sample ballot because I had moved and failed to re-register and thus needed a provisional ballot. Oh, the drama. Then as I was filling out my paperwork, Ella decided to pull several of those mammoth registry booklets and some flyers from the table. Fortunately -- there was only minor drama there. But the bottom line -- we successfully voted and did our duty as citizens of this great nation.

The only not so good thing -- one of the old lady volunteers thought it would be cute to give Ella an I Voted sticker which I didn't notice until we got home -- and she had already eaten the corner. Here's a picture of what was left of the sticker before I took it away from her -- creating more drama.

Crazy Granddad

We've come to call him "Crazy Granddad" because it seems he'll do just about anything to get a laught or, in Ella's case, a smile out of his grandkids. He sent Ella this picture of himself dressed up as a goofy cowboy for Halloween -- she loved it. There was also a picture featuring he and Babci, who dressed as a cute pumpkin, but that didn't elicit as much joy as "Crazy Granddad". I wish we could bottle her laughter and listen to it like you do a seashell -- long after you've plucked it from its sandy graveyard.

A Cultured Kid

Los Angeles is a melting pot. With the exception of NYC I don't think I've ever been to another U.S. city where there is more to absorb in terms of ethnic diversity. Ella has no clue about any of this yet but we love it anyway.


For example, our friend Menami just went on a business trip to Canada. She brought back a beautiful pair of Moccasins for Ella. You can't get much more diverse than that; a Japanese friends going to a French area of Canada and bringing back Indian shoes. She can't wear them yet but they're put away for another year or so. We love them.


And on Halloween Ella got to visit with our neighbors, Rachel and Nicholas. They were dressed in traditional Japanese attire. Don't they look adorable? Their mommy, Tomoko, always remembers Miss Ella. She brought her apple sauce and crackers since she can't eat traditional Halloween fare, Snickers and Milk Duds.

Catching Up

We haven't written in a while because the computer has been (and still is for the most part) on the fritz. But that hasn't kept us from staying very busy lately -- so here are a few photos and little stories to get you caught up on our lives.

On the 26th Daddy celebrated his 34th birthday. As usual, since the early fledgling days of our relationship, he received homemade "birthday cookies" from me. If I'd known this would be 'til death do us part I might have chosen a simpler recipe all those years ago. They are a labor of love. So instead of cake we enjoyed cookies -- Ella really liked them. Hmmm -- will this become a tradition for each birthday?

On Saturday we carved pumpkins. It's hard work so Ella and mommy took a break and shared a sugar free popsicle. She loves them and they're a treat for her little throbbing gums.

Sunday night we went down to Manhattan Beach for trick-or-treating. The streets were packed with princesses, animals, fairies, witches and goblins. Since Ella can't actually eat the candy we decided this was a better way to celebrate Halloween. We were one of the few families in costume but we had a great time and our photo was taken for the local paper.

For Halloween we dressed in costume and sat out in the front yard and handed out candy. The children enjoyed getting candy from the Oz family. And although the Lion head didn't last long -- she enjoyed crawling around the yard and looking at the jack-o-lanterns. Unfortunately we didn't have as many trick-or-treaters this year. Last year, when we had just moved in and I was reaching pregnant capacity, there was a non-stop stream from about 6:30 until 9:30. We very conservatively went through about 20 bags of candy before running out before it was all over. This year -- we began buying candy back in September and had 23 bags. By the end of the night we were giving two and three handfuls to the kids.

Not much on the agenda for the next few days. As for Ella's progress -- she's really getting the hang of walking while holding our hands. She's even stood on her own for a split second a couple of times -- but she gets freaked out and cries. She's also figured out how to open drawers -- which usually results in smashed fingers and much drama.

Little Gardener

Ella loves being outside -- that's no secret if you read this blog from time to time. She reminds me so much of my Granny sometimes. She can spent half an hour just pulling at weeds, playing with rocks and touching plants in the front yard.


Speaking of Grandmothers (or Great-grandmothers) Ella recently discovered the gorgeous Birds of Paradise just beginning to bloom. They were part of the reason we chose this house. This time last year I was just beginning to be really uncomfortable in my pregnancy and we still hadn't found a home to move into and await the arrival of our little blessing.

When we arrived to this little bungalow in Redondo Beach the "Birds" were blooming. We saw it as a sign from Grandmom M. that this was the place for us. She so loved the exotic and beautiful plants. They are breathtaking.

Ten Months Old

Our blue-eyed baby girl is now ten months old. She continues to amaze us each and every day. She has gone through a bit of a growth spurt lately and is looking more and more like a little girl all the time. Along with that growth she's gaining more confidence. She's moved onto one-handed cruising. For instance, while holding onto the coffee table she'll reach for the chair and move from one piece of furniture to the other. She even stood on her own for the first time Friday, on her ten month birthday. Matt and I were playing with her in the floor in her room when she used Daddy to pull herself up and for a split second she was standing on her own. When we tried to repeat said accomplishment she promptly sat down. That's okay! I'm sure that's a little freaky the first time it happens.

She didn't have a flawless "birthday". Somewhere in her little mouth more teeth are moving in and causing major discomfort once more. But with enough Tylenol, Orajel, and Motrin she enjoyed parts of the day. Who wouldn't grin just a little on all that medication?

Priceless

A room full of toys....hundreds of dollars

An 84 count pampers purchase...20 something dollars

A Daddy propelled box ride...priceless

These are the moments that make everything worth it!

Picking Out A Pumpkin

Saturday brought a drive down to Long Beach and a visit to Pa's Pumpkin Patch. We had specific orders from Babci to buy a big pumpkin for Ella since this will be her first Halloween.

The pumpkin patch was fantastic! There were of course a great abundance of the orange gourdes in every size imagineable. And there were a number of rides and exhibits for kids of all ages. Once we roamed the pumpkins and got an idea of what we wanted we went to the petting zoo. Ella had the most fun petting the goats and touching their horns. She also liked the ducks but they weren't very playful.

We also went for a little train ride. The first few times around went well, but then Ella either grew tired, motion sick, or bored and started letting me know (by whining) she had had enough. So I glared at the man operating the ride and he let us go around 2 more times and then let us off. I felt badly for the little boy who got to be the conductor -- he was grinning from ear to ear and ringing the bell like there was no tomorrow. Sorry kid.

We watched the pony rides for a few minutes and decided it was time to go. We picked out a mammoth pumpkin and were ready to go until we found out the really big pumpkins start at $50 bucks. What?!! So we opted for a really big regular sized one ($20), two small ones and a mini one.

After the pumpkin patch daddy and I were hungry so we stopped at In-n-Out Burger for a quick bite before getting back on the freeway. Such a delicious way to end a fun outing.

Once we got back home we fixed a pumpkin display on the front porch as you can see Ella really seemed to be relishing all the holiday festivities.

She's Getting So Tall

We often find ourselves just looking at her lately. She's becoming less of a little baby and more of a little girl. I know the pediatrician says she's slightly below average for height but she seems tall to us.

This is how we know she's getting sleepy. She'll lie down, pretty much wherever she is, and start sucking her thumb and playing with the hair at the back of her head. We think it's so sweet.

A Hiccup in Plans

On Saturday we had big plans to go to the movies and see "The Departed". We haven't been to the movie theater since before Ella was born -- almost a year now. I worked a mid-day shift and got home around six o'clock. Miss Nassim came by for one last visit with Ella before returning to Atlanta on Sunday. We got to the house about the same time and were greeted by a pretty cranky baby. Matt said she had been good all day and seemed very happy. Of course that made me feel wonderful (read sarcasm). Anyway -- by the time our friends came over to babysit Ella she was in full meltdown mode and nothing was soothing her. Our friends, who are not parents themselves, urged us to go and said everything would be fine. But after a few attempts to leave -- we ended up staying until Ella had a bedtime bottle and was tucked in -- quiet and peaceful at last. We missed the movie so we just went out for a nice dinner.



On Sunday our hopes for a good time were crushed once more. On our way to Church we noticed streets were closed in downtown Manhattan Beach for a fall festival. There were pony rides! I immediately insisted we bring Ella down after her mid-morning nap (following services). Things went according to plan -- for a moment. Parking was a bear but we finally got a pretty good spot and strolled down to the action. Ella was fine until we entered the crowd of people. She started crying and whining and acting just unhappy in general. We walked swiftly past most of the vendors (although Matt managed to buy a couple of little gifts for his parents). I took her out of the stroller guessing perhaps she was disgruntled because her little head is at butt level -- and that's not pretty. But carrying her didn't work either. She refused to wear her hat and her little head started turning pink.

Finally (back in the stroller with the visor over her big white head) I suggested we just try the pony rides. I don't know why. Maybe I just saw an adorable moment, memory, photo in the mental thought of it. We made our way through the "kids" area and saw what appeared to be a decent sized line for the ponies. When we stopped to better evaluate the situation Ella let out a big wail. So we flipped the brakes off the stroller and hoofed it back to the car. Sweaty and tired we got home and put her down for a nap. I freshened up and left for a late shift at work. Maybe some of this parenting stuff works better if you don't plan a single thing.

Making Angels Proud

Granny Nellie, Babci Mary and Grandmom Albina were probably all smiling down on Ella from heaven when this picture was taken on Friday. Perhaps following in their footsteps -- Miss Ella seemed right at home and very content playing with the pots and pans.

A Visitor from Georgia

Miss Nassim (Uncle Richard's girlfriend) arrived around 7:30 last night. Ella had just taken her "before bed" bottle and was enjoying a bit of a second wind. Poor Nassim is staying in Redondo Beach but spent the day working in the northern San Fernando Valley. She learned very quickly what all locals already know -- you can't expect to get anywhere fast on the 405, through the Sepulveda pass during rush hour (a collective sigh just went out from anyone who has ever driven that nightmare). But -- she got here safely and that's what matters. It took her about an hour and a half to go approximately 25 miles.

Ella was happy to see her and they played for about half an hour. Uncle Richard sent her an adorable little cow -- whom we haven't yet named. Any suggestions? My little brother is the only person I've ever known to play that "claw" game (the one where you direct the claw with a joystick over a pile of toys) and win something cute!

After Ella went to the land of nod we had dinner and nice conversation. We talked about coming home for Christmas and how much fun it will be to see everyone and let everyone see Ella. We have been home already once for her Baptism. She was just four months old and slept through everything! Our usually very alert, very verbal child saw the mass hordes of strange people with outstretched arms (and occasionally too much perfume) coming at her with outstretched arms and effectively conked out. No one got to see her do anything but snooze.

I have great hope that Christmas will be different. Otherwise I'm convinced she's already trying to defy me.

Today I think we may go for a bike ride at the beach if it's not too cloudy. And we're headed to the mall for a little greeting card shopping -- so many birthdays in October!

More Teeth

Ella's getting two more bottom teeth at the same time and the fourth top one is trying to break through -- needless to say life has been challenging. However, my sister-in-law Durene suggested we switch from Tylenol to Motrin and it really has made a difference. And -- with the confidence of a more seasoned mother, my friend LeAnne admonished, "those new teeth are mean." Yes, they are!

The latest and cutest new thing she's doing is imitating us when we eat -- particularly the chewing action. When we rarely have a meal together during Ella's waking hours -- she watches us from the comforts of her exersaucer or high chair. Paying close attention -- she starts moving her mouth like a hungry calf who has just happened upon a lush patch of clover. Is that what we look like?

She's also cruising now. For those who are not "in the know" (as I was just 9 short months ago) that means she's pulling to a stand and then walking (often sideways) while holding on to something. She's becoming a pro on the coffee table.

Today we're headed to the costume store to get the "family" costume. Yes we're going to be that family. And maybe to the YMCA -- but I've been having a problem with my equalibrium and am not sure if it's best I get on a treadmill.

Later today Uncle Richard's girlfriend, Nassim is coming for a visit. She's in town on business and should arrive shortly after Ella's dinner and before her bath. That's usually a fun time. After Ella's nods off to sleepy time we'll have dinner and that should be nice. We'll take pictures and post them, hopefully tomorrow.

Girl Wrestlers

Got your attention!
No this was really funny. Little Ryann came over to play in the front yard with Ella yesterday evening. Ella was very interesting in trying to push Ryann so she'd fall backwards. She had almost accomplished her devious plan when, teetering a bit, Ryann maneuvered a very skillfull take-down. In the blink of an eye Ella was on her back looking up at the blue sky -- dazed and confused. We were laughing too hard to catch the moment but here's a nice shot of them playing nicely.