Finally -- A Getaway

Now that Ella's 16 months old we decided to get away for our sixth anniversary.

We dumped her off on Aunt Durene and Uncle Wayne and headed to Florida for a little R&R. (hope to post some pictures soon)

We had a wonderful time!!

Ella had a blast playing with her cousins and spending time with family. We missed her tremendously -- well me moreso than Daddy because I had never been away from her for more than a few hours. She didn't seem to notice we were gone. When we went to pick her up she looked at us and then looked away like we were complete strangers. That hurts.

Things are back to normal again -- way too soon. Matt's back on the road and I'm running around doing mundane Mommy/Housework stuff. And wouldn't you know it -- now that Daddy has his monstrosity of a huge television and a new entertainment center the Sears guy tells me we need a new washer. If only life could me more like vacation. Every day could be greeted with a forecast of sunshine and the promise of a mid-morning margarita.

Okay back to what this blog is really about -- Ella said strawberry this morning during breakfast. And when the furniture guys (big entertainment center) were done -- and I mean the last screw had just been drilled in place -- she yelled -- Bye Bye!! I think that's her way of saying, "Now get the frank out of my house!"

Ella's First Swim Lesson

Ella had her first swim lesson on Saturday morning at the YMCA. She's in a class of about ten kids aging from about nine months to two years. Since Daddy was a champion swimmer as a kid and Mommy also loves the water we figured she'd enjoy the classes. She does! While other kids were shivering or whining, Ella was taking it all in. We splashed, sang songs, glided on our tummyies from the side and bounced in a circle!

I think she's already one of Miss Kelly's favorite pupils. Or that could just be the proud Mama in me oozing out.
We had a blast! Five more weeks of fun, fun, fun!!

Mystery Fever and a Broken Toe

It's been an eventful and difficult 24 hours.

Late yesterday I noticed Ella seemed warm. After an uncomfortable (for both of us) poke in the fanny -- the thermometer revealed she had a fever of nearly 103.

I quickly squirted Tylenol down her and started phoning the doctor. Shortly thereafter Ella took a nap. The nurse advised I let her sleep, watch her, take her temp when she woke up and then call back. After her nap her fever had dropped to 99.4. We were headed for the doctor just to make Mommy feel better.

Of course once at the pediatrician's office Ella played happily and showed no sign of fever or lethargy at all. So we were given the catch-all diagnosis -- VIRUS. Which means they're not sure what's going on and they can't fix it. Time is the best remedy.

Once home she started acting clingy and irritable again. I gave her a warm bath, Motrin and we read some stories before bedtime. She was restless. I knew what was coming.

About 11 she woke up screaming and sweating and crying uncontrollably. I tried to calm her. I even called Daddy in Vegas (Bachelor party) to see if his voice would help. Not happening.

After about 40 minutes of meltdown I put her back in her crib. She was exhausted but fighting it. After about 10 minutes she finally nodded off. She then slept sound until Elmo woke her at 8 a.m. The say my name Elmo from Papa and Nana is programmable for a wake up call. "He says, Ella it's time to wake up!" She loves it -- I of course wanted to throw him out the window.

She has seemed quite fine so far today. She tried to help me hang a few pictures but in her effort she dropped a frame on mommy's big toe -- I'm fairly certain it's broken. No sense in going to the doctor -- they can't do anything for that either. The story of Mommy's life. It can't be fixed -- but it will get better with time.

Easter Weekend

It was a bitterly cold Easter weekend here in Georgia. But we still had loads of fun.

Saturday we got the weekend started with an Easter egg hunt at the Atlanta Athletic Club with Babci, Granddad and that whole gang. The petting zoo was a big hit for Ella. She loved the bunny and thought it was really cool to see a real life baa baa (sheep). She has a sheep book that makes that sound so that's what she thinks they're called.

She also squeeled with delight during a pony ride. Mommy had a hard time keeping up with the brisk walking pony handler but it was hysterical listening to Ella have such fun.

Fortunately, Aunt Steph suggested we bring a wagon for Ella and Emma because the event was held in a big field and little ones get tired -- and cold quickly. They had a big time "talking" while someone pulled them around.

The egg hunt itself was brutal. Rich kids start being rich kids from the beginning. There were ample cheaters and over-the-top competitors. We were more than happy with Ella's two eggs.

Coloring eggs for the first time

Afterwards we went to Babci and Granddad's for more egg hunting and a nice dinner.

Sunday morning Ella awoke to find the Easter Bunny had left her a cool car just like cousin Trey's! She wanted to ride right away but the church bells were ringing for 9 o-clock mass. Babci and Granddad met us for mass and then came back to our house for brunch.

Later that afternoon after Ella's nap we headed over to Grams's house for a late lunch (still full from breakfast) and more egg hunting. Uncle Richard's girlfriend, Nassim's brother, sister-in-law and nephew (10 month old Lyric) also joined us. The kids had a great time, despite the cold.

It was a beautiful weekend -- maybe not weather-wise -- but definitely by all other accounts.

"Chocolate" Covered Cherry to End My Day

After a long couple of days helping Grams get her house ready for Easter Sunday, Ella and I returned home exhausted and ready for bah-ems (bath-time).

I quickly ran the tub for her, threw her in, washed her off and let her play for an abbreviated amount of time.

As I reached for the drain to signal the end of bath-time, my hand ran across some disintegrating bar soap. Wait -- Ella doesn't use bar soap!!

The poopy-tub bandit had struck again.

P.S. Greta's Dad, e-mail me directly. For some reason I can't comment on Greta Grows.

Cheese Cracker Clean-Up

Lesson of the day:

If you move the kitchen chair away from the table so baby cannot climb on top of table but close enough to the island for baby to reach open bag of cheese crackers, the result will be a large mess.

She had ground up cheese between her toes and caked on her feet. But she still enjoyed them as a snack with some nice apple juice. However, the dust buster (and mommy's back) got a work out.

Sunday Barbecue!

Sunday's visit to Aunt Leshia and Uncle David's came with the promise of some "good fishin'" in the neighborhood pond and good grilled out eats for dinner. Well -- we had fun anyway.

Daddy and Uncle Richard caught fish but let cousin Trey throw them back. Afterwards he went around sniffing his hands and proclaiming, "ew, fish!"

Uncle David grilled (burnt to a crisp)up some hamburgers and hot dogs (thank God for condiments and cheese) and we had potato salad and other yummies.

After dinner Trey and Ella were bound for the outdoors. Ella first tried out Trey's foot powered (or Daddy powered) little car.

But then, after seeing Trey zoom across the backyard on his battery operated four wheeler she decided to trade up.

When Trey wanted his four wheeler back -- pushing came to shoving. But they were both laughing so no harm no foul.

It was a great afternoon/evening. It's so nice to be around family again. Cancer-causing charred meat or not.

Cousin Zach's T-Ball Game

Well the Fighting Irish lost on Saturday but it was a lot of fun anyway.

Zach plays the outfield and looked more than a little interested in the game when I zoomed in from behind home plate. Priceless. He spends most of his time out there flailing his arms and spinning around.

He did hit an RBI and I managed to catch him leaving the plate!

Ella had a great time visiting with cousins, Aunts and Uncles. She especially enjoyed her Godmother, Aunt Durene, who scooped her up as soon as we arrived. Later, Daddy took her over to the playground where she had a big time climbing and sliding.

For the first time -- our little peanut was covered in Georgia red clay. And we loved it.

More new words!!

She pushed the chair from the kitchen to the front door -- climbed up and looked out

So our kid's not walking (well not a lot anyway) but boy is she talking up a storm (and climbing).



New words she's added to her vocabulary:



Da-em = Daddy



Buh = Bird



Pay = Plane (airplane)



Puh-pah = Puppy

Yesterday we were at a fancy home decor place. I put down squirming Ella to take a closer look at a breakable item. Suddenly I heard, "Puh-pah, puh-pah!" and turned to find her jamming her

finger into an oil painting of a dog. Thank God her little finger didn't punch a hole in the canvas. Yeesh!

Filet-O-Fish Fridays

Taken from outside the play-place looking in

Okay -- full disclosure -- we've had a couple of oopses this lenten season -- eating meat on Fridays. But we remembered yesterday and headed to Micky D's for lunch.

What's up there?

We hadn't yet been to our local McDonald's so it was a big adventure. The indoor play-place was really cool! I squeezed my way into the little crawl spaces and slides and we had a big time. She squeeled with delight when we went down the twisty slide together. Static electricity shocked my fanny -- so it wasn't as much fun for me. I wonder though if that helps cellulite.

Ella especially liked the little stearing wheels attached to propellers. She loved "stearing" her way through imaginary skies.

She pitched a big old fit when it was time to go. The first of many "It's time to go" episodes I'm sure.

Baby Mug Shot?

Nick Nolte's got nothin' on my kid!

Authorities (Mommy) caught the suspect with another known criminal (Daddy) eating pancakes and syrup on a Saturday morning. The suspect has been arrested a number of times for smearing sticky food in her hair. Suspect number two attempted to flee the scene but was apprehended and ordered to clean-up the syrup hairdo.

Let them eat (store bought) cake!

Babci and Granddad came over Wednesday to enjoy taco night with us! Ella (as you can see) had a great time with them. Dinner and conversation were great but my day was less than fantastic.

I spent most of the day cleaning. Not necessarily because the in-laws were paying a visit but because the house really needed it.

Along around 2:30 I was mostly finished and winding down with Ella before her afternoon nap. She had eaten a big lunch (very unusual for miss picky) and even polished off a few tortilla chips

as a snack.

Then the fun began. We were playing on the couch in the play room when Ella leaned over the back and pushed her full tummy at just the right spot and half digested tortilla came back for a visit. God, puke stinks. So I ran to our bathroom to grab a towel to clean the couch and carpet. When I returned she was playing in her own vomit. So I ran to get another towel to clean her hands. I opened the laundry doors to discover the detergent had leaked out -- coating the top of the dryer with a gooey blue film. Once Ella was clean and all the puke was mopped and everything was disinfected I tackled the dryer. As I nearly completed that task I heard a familiar noise coming from Ella's bathroom. Yep -- she was playing in the toilet water. I know I should have one of those safety latches!!

Shortly after washing her hands again -- I put her down for a nap.

Calm seemed to finally be setting in when Daddy came home from a business luncheon -- looked at frazzled mommy and asked, "So are you going to the gym?"

Are you freaking kidding me?

Not yet convinced I had had enough -- I went down to the kitchen to make some flan for taco dinner dessert. Man it takes forever for that stuff to boil. But once it did -- it boiled over and went all over the stove-top, countertop and floor. After a few choice words I poured the mixture into the muffin cups and then cleaned up mess #4 (or was it 5) of the day.

The next time I'm faced with so many hurdles, trials and tribulations -- Babci and Granddad will be eating store-bought cake with their boxed taco dinner!

Already saying the darndest things

We've been experiencing some nice Georgia springtime weather. So the other day we were out driving around with the sunroof open. At a red light Daddy checked himself in the mirror and proclaimed, "This sucks. I can see my balding head in the sunlight!" I turned to Ella and asked, "Ella is Daddy losing his hair?" To which she responded, "Uh oh."

Funny until the tables are turned. Not looking forward to that one.

A Bit Irish

Although Mommy's family is mostly Irish -- it was Daddy's Mommy, Ella's Babci (Polish) who cooked corn beef and cabbage on Saturday.

Ella looked like an adorable lass should in her little shamrock dress and scuffed up shoes. We had a great time at Aunt Durene's. And when the jigs had all played out and the wee ones were wearin' thin -- the green cupcakes were a fine endin' to a grand day. The adults enjoyed my Tipsy Irish Whiskey Cake. Mmmm.

Cousin Emma was a bit too quick to catch with the camera -- but she had a green face as well!

Special congratulations go out to cousin Zach who hit a triple at his first t-ball game on Saturday. Lucky fella -- his team is called the Fighting Irish! Of course they won. He passed on the traditional meal and went for a mighty big brat. He deserved it!

Say it ain't so...

I just looked back over the blog and am ever amazed at how much Ella has grown and changed since I first started blogging about her amazing little life at seven months old. Now she's almost 15 months and she's bombarding us with firsts every day.

Aside from the huge milestone of taking her first steps -- she's also saying a few words. She is one of those kids who mostly uses a made-up language. Our pediatrician told us some kids start speaking clearly, others make up a language and then slowly infiltrate the real stuff. The latter is our kid.

Here are a few of her new words -- in case you get the chance to have a conversation with her anytime soon:

Gump (just like Forrest) = food or hungry (don't have a clue where that came from)

Bah-em = bath time

Okay = okay

Hi = hello. Said to just about anyone. Also said when she's right in a person's face early in the morning

uh-bay? (said like a question) = baby (we think)

uh-oh = you better go see what she's done

bye-bye = it's time for everyone to go home

She's also started breathing through her bottom teeth or flipping her tongue sideways when she's concentrating.

Funny -- or at least we think so.

All Taped-Up

While efforting to prep Ella's room before giving it a coat of primer and then a pretty yellow finish -- Miss Priss decided to help us with the tape.

As you can see -- she quite enjoyed playing with the tiny pieces Daddy kept tearing off to help keep her distracted. It was all fun and games until a piece got stuck to her foot and she couldn't pull it off. Humorous -- but probably borderline abuse.

I had to smile through my frustration when I turned to find she had pulled off all the tape I had meticulously put on the floor moulding along an entire wall.

When Ella lets us finish the project -- I'll post some pictures!

Meeting Davis

Our friends Heidi and Paul came over yesterday with two month old Davis. He's a sweet boy and we enjoyed meeting him and catching up with more special friends. In a short time the age difference between Ella and Davis will seem like nothing. We're hoping they'll be great friends since Davis lives pretty close-by. Ella was intrigued by his crying. I think she was amazed that another little person could out-do her in terms of projection levels. But for one of Davis's first outings -- he did very, very well!!

Midnight Train to Georgia

What an awesome song! And although we didn't take a choo-choo across country -- we got here safe and sound. Ella and I flew home and she was a perfect little peach. All of my praying must have gotten to some Saint's ears because not only was she well behaved -- the flight arrived thrity minutes early! Sweet!!

Daddy and Uncle Richard have a more colorful story of their treck back down south. They drove a big moving truck and hauled my SUV. Somewhere in nowhere Texas they blew a tire on the trailer and spent a lot of time looking out at the wide expanse of nothing.

But they made it in a record four days. Much like Veterans who have seen far too much -- they don't like to talk about it but everything arrived -- including them -- pretty much unscathed.

But -- for all their troubles the good Lord sent them a little sign that despite the roadblocks and challenges -- everything would be okay. Matt says pictures don't do justice to this amazing rainbow. He had never before seen an entire rainbow from one side to the other.

We're all moved in and Daddy has been on his first business trip (ten days!). We're still busy hanging pictures and painting and our minds are abuzz with project ideas -- Home Depot loves us. We've been visiting and being visited by lots of family and friends and Ella is loving all the new faces! Plus we're in a fantastic community of lots of families in our exact stage of life. Many, many little ones who are eager to get to know the new blonde kid around the corner.

Ella is extremely happy with her new home. She has lots and lots of places to explore both indoors and out. And our mortgage is the same as our rent was on the 900 square foot bungalow in Redondo Beach! We do miss the weather though.
Ella's so happy she finally started walking about a week ago. She had taken a step here and there while Daddy was away on his first business trip but she waited for his return to take those first few precious steps. She is so thrilled with herself she laughs and claps each time she traverses new ground. She still prefers crawling but at almost 15 months she's finally getting it!

Well there are a few boxes that need to go down to the basement and Ella's now waking from her nap. But I just wanted to let everyone in Blogger land know we're here, we're happy and we're blogging again!

Mommy, what's a coat?

Atlanta Forecast:

41°F ClearWind: SW at 6 mphHumidity: 31%

Tue 49° 36°

Wed 58° 39°

Thu 54° 33°

Fri 49° 33°

Los Angeles Forecast:

64°FClearWind: N at 0 mphHumidity: 50%

Tue 76° 49°

Wed 67° 49°

Thu 65° 48°

Fri 67° 47°

Yesterday it was 85 degrees here in Redondo Beach!

Okay -- so we'll miss the weather!! Ella and I went to the beach yesterday -- February 5th.

Breaking News!

California Girl to Become Georgia Peach

Goodbye sushi, goodbye tofu, goodbye frigid Pacific Ocean. Hello Barbecue, hello sweet tea, hello Lake Lanier!

Daddy landed a sweet job with Lochard Corporation and we're headed back to hot-Lanta! (Atlanta).

The company has been persuing Daddy for about a year now. First they wanted us to stay in L.A., then there were talks of a transfer to Boston and even Miami. A few months ago they came back to the table offering Atlanta, home of the Braves. Things then became very serious for us and just recently we sealed the deal.

As if a new job weren't exciting enough for our little family -- we're also buying our first home. We are nervous and excited!

So we're headed home to introduce Ella to humidity, fireflies and pine trees. What a wonderful way to grow up.

But who knows -- maybe someday our little blonde haired, blue eyed angel will venture back this way to become a Bruin! After all, she was born at UCLA - Santa Monica!!

And for those of you (both far and near) who read Ella's World, we will keep it up and running. The next few months may be a little hit or miss with the move -- but we will not abandon the Blog for good. There are still plenty of family and friends a good distance from us -- but mostly we'll all be in the same time zone!