Ella Updates and Life

Raspberries
Miss Ella started trying to blow raspberries at the end of last week. My mom saw it and so did Jason but then she hasn't done it since. So neat (that she's doing these things) and so hard (that I'm not there to see them) at the same time.

Long Car Ride
She recently had her first really long car ride. There were some moments of crying but overall she just chilled or slept. She did great. And there was only one poop blow out, but it made for an interesting paper towel bath in an Irving rest room :) (And yes, the poo blow out occurred wearing disposables...NOT cloth)

New Cries
The cries we did hear were new cries. They were distinctly different from any we'd heard before. It was no longer a newborn, "I need something" cry. It was an, "I'm ticked and am telling the world" cry. Interesting and quite humorous at points too!

Tummy Time & Rolling Over (attempts)
Ella doesn't really like tummy time. She tires of it in approximately 2 minutes and then gets real fussy and tries to roll over. She gets about half the way, but still can't figure out how to get that pesky arm out of the way!

Grabbing
She did tolerate tummy time a little today and even reached out and grabbed a toy that was in front of her, that was a first on her tummy!

T.V.
I'm afraid this little one takes after her mamma in that she likes to watch T.V. The little bugger hears it and cranes her head right around to try to see it no matter where she is. Consequently, her mamma doesn't watch T.V. anymore! It stays off when she's up!

Page Turner
Ella turns the pages of her board books when we read to her. At first I thought she was just grabbing them, and no she doesn't get them turned quite the whole way, but now I'm pretty convinced she's actually trying to turn them. I even got it on video. It makes sense that she's trying to copy what we've been doing with her since the day we brought her home!

Laughing
Also today, I think I heard her first laugh. She LOVES laying on her back and grabbing at dangling toys. She talks up a storm and smiles and squeals. Today amongst all of her chatter, I'm pretty sure I heard a few laughs. They were so funny! Low "hahahaha's" and a little evil sounding if I do say so myself!

Good Life!
And today is just a wonderful Tuesday. I'm relaxing, baking homemade bread, washing diapers, picking up around the house and just soaking in the moments with my babe. Every sigh, every cry, every smile, every coo, every movement and every snuggle is precious. Life is good.

Smokin' !

You gotta spice things up once in a while right? Get out of the same old hum drum routine....well that's kinda what I did at work yesterday night.

I was helping cook dinner (tacos) and the tortillas were still frozen, so I popped 'em in the micro for 2 minutes to get them thawed out, went and did something else and then came back and started chopping veggies.

I heard the microwave still going behind me but thought nothing of it. I thought someone else had popped something in there...because surely what I had put on for 2minutes was not still going 15 minutes later.....Ummmmmmmmm WRONGO!

My co-worker said, "Do you smell something burning?"

"Yeah," I replied, "I think it's just something on the burner." Then I turned around. AHHH!

Thick smoke coming out of the microwave! I shut it off and open it up. Good. No fire. Just smoke. Then the hardwired alarm starts going off. Blaring WHAA, WHAA, WHAA! Emergency strobe lights flashing! Residents start streaming out of the house looking at me with big eyes as I explain, "Everything is okay, but we still need to go outside."

Everyone gathers out front. It take the firemen 10-15 minutes to get there and the station is LITERALLY around the corner. (Maybe this was a blessing in disguise, finding out and being able to be proactive in remedying response time.)

The firemen are nice. I explain what happened. They clear the house, open windows, put a fan on. Everyone has a good chuckle and life resumes as normal....only a little stinkier from all the smoke.

Apparently I hit an extra zero and those taco shells were cookin' for a good 20 minutes!....and I'm supposed to be helping the clients learn kitchen safety skills!? Wow. Good one!

Until we meet again.

I'm not sure why this strikes me so sentimental, but on March 20th I know of one life that began and one life that ended. An old friend of mine welcomed her first baby into this world. And on that same day, the world said goodbye to a wonderful man, Bill Gormely.

I attended Bill's memorial service today. I've only attended two funeral's since my father's. One was my grandfather's and the other was Steve's, a man who was a secondary father figure to me. I find funerals just too difficult. I like to remember the person the way they were. Not have my last memory be of the way they looked in a casket.

But I recently decided that that's kind of selfish of me. And decided to start going to funerals and memorial services to pay my respects and to offer love and support. Boy am I glad I decided that not too long ago.

Bill's memorial service was exactly what it said it would be... a celebration of his life. Many, many poster boards filled with pictures of him living and loving life. Belongings of his that reminded us all of who he was and the things he loved to do. Singing beautiful worship songs that were among his favorites. Friends and family members getting up to share stories about Bill that often sent laughter erupting from the crowd. And a message reminding us of the reason that we can be so joyous and celebratory in the face of such loss and grief. Bill knew Jesus Christ as his personal savior. And because of that, how truly wonderful it is that we can know for sure that he is in Heaven.

Bill, I am so glad to know that you are face to face with Christ your Savior, that you have no more pain, that you can rejoice in the presence of God for all eternity. And for those of us who know Christ as our Savior, how glad we are that we can say without a doubt, we'll see you again someday. Until then, we'll still miss you greatly!

Meet Mr. Ribbit!

Even though I'd rather stay home (as you all are probably getting sick of me saying) it's nice to know that when I go to work, I get to know that I'm leaving my child with my mom, who respects our wishes as parents and does an amazing job watching Ella. It's also FREE! And as an added bonus, I come home to find fun new things like, lullaby CD's, wonderful books, cute outfits, and an occasional new toy....like Mr. Ribbit here. Happy lookin' little fella isn't he?You see, Mr. Ribbit is our daughters favorite new toy...and the bane of her (and my) existence at the same time. Mr. Ribbit has awesome little flappers to chew on and a jingly little bell inside his tummy. When you hold him up and shake him to make his jingly noise this is Ella's reaction, followed by lots of smiles:She will do this FOREVER and LOVES IT! However, If you do not want to shake Mr. Ribbit for her for 10 hours on end, you can give her the toy. She'll happily muckle onto the little guy and shake him and shove his feet in her mouth, but you're sure to hear some angry little baby wailing 2 seconds later when she loses her grasp and he falls of to the side, or my favorite, ends up on her face and she can't figure out how to get him off! Pick Mr. Ribbit up and give him back to her and she's instantly happy as a clam again....until two seconds later when she loses him....and so goes the cycle!

Double Awesome

Walk in the woods? Ummmm, no....

You know when you're trying to pull out of somewhere and a giant SUV or truck pulls up way ahead next you and you can't see a thing!? How annoying is that!? Well, this guy totally did that today as we tried to pull out onto Main street to go to church and I was about to get a little peeved until he motioned us to roll down our window.

We did and he proceeded to tell us that both tires on the passenger side of our car were losing air...one almost flat. Awesome!

So we tried to find an air hose at three different places before we finally found a place that had one AND was in order.

And our lovely walk after church turned into a lovely visit to Wal-Mart (the only place you can get tires on a Sunday) and a dent in our wallet just shy of $500! Double Awesome!

Handmade with Love

My friend Shannon would never brag about herself. So I'll brag for her! Look at this beautiful/adorable hand made snugly, bunting (I don't really know exactly what to call it) thingy she made for Ella!After church tomorrow this little family is headed to the Bangor forest for our spring stroll together. It will be Ella's first time in her stroller and I can't wait to bundle her in this beautiful creation!

THIRD DAY!

You may recall my previous post about how PUMPED I was that Third Day (my all-time favorite band) was coming to little old Bangor! Well they came last night! Jason had been sick for at least a week and I started to come down with something. I spent all day Saturday recuperating, and Sunday I napped. By the time the concert rolled around Sunday night I was feeling better! But lets be honest, I would have gone on my death bed! Nothing was keeping me from seeing Third Day live!

I took my mom with me and it was such and awesome time! My mom and I both love the band and we've never been to any kind of real concert together. It was just a really sweet time for me, getting to share the experience with her.

We sat with a bunch of my friends because we all bought tickets together. Despite the fact that Jessie looks absolutely stoned in this picture, rest assured, the night was totally chem-free! :)True to form Third Day put on an amazing show/time of worship! We had seats right in the middle at the very beginning of the stadium seats. It was a GREAT view and not too far away despite how the pictures look! Here's the best shot I got of the lead singer Mac Powel.My favorite part was when they went off the stage and had a little acoustic, all request jam session in the middle of the auditorium which was really close to us. Mac sang my favorite song that I had yet to hear live, "Love Song". This is NOT a good picture but it was awesome!The thing I love about Christian concerts is that there are people of all ages, from all walks of life united in Christ. Everyone is happy and polite and courteous. It's just a different feel than many other concerts I've been to. We left energized and uplifted! What an awesome night!