Baby Story Time

Ms. Ella loves books. After already exhausting herself in her jumper or exersaucer, she enjoys lying down or sitting in your lap and looking at a book. She already smiles in recognition of some words, like apple. Kelly has a French baby book, L'Igloo de Pilou, and says that it's one of Ella's favorites. (She didn't like it as well when Kelly translated it to English!) She also said that when she was reading from an adult book with nice pictures, Ella would laugh when she would read big words like dissertation. Maybe Ella thought her Mom was making up funny words since she had never heard them before.

Yesterday, as you can see in the pics above, Mommy read Five Little Monkeys to Ella and had a toy monkey to act out the story. Ella is a lucky little girl!!

What a Busy Girl!

Ella is quite the busy baby these days. She has entered the entertain-me stage, and yesterday she pretty well exhausted all three of us!

She is loving her toys, and likes to be moved from one thing to another, with little respites from all the activity reclining in her bouncer seat. She also desperately wants to sit up and get moving. When you hold her, she strains so much you'd think she was a crawler who wants to be put down on the floor to explore the house. This little grandbaby of mine can actually stand unsupported (her arms out at her sides for balance) for a second or two. I'd be really surprised if she's not walking, or really close to it, by Christmas. (Watch out Christmas decorations!!)

Ella isn't satisfied with merely perfecting her motor skills -- she wants to talk. Now, call us crazy, but there are certain words/phrases that we have said that we are sure she has repeated, like "yellow" and "I love you" Of course, it's not like you or I would say it, but it sure sounded like a good baby try to us. And, at times of the day when she is well rested and well fed, she is quite chatty, conversing with her mom, dad or me.

The entertaining doesn't stop when you get in the car either. For a baby who used to love the car seat, she wasn't so happy yesterday (as you can see in the picture below) as we drove to a consignment shop. I ended up sitting in the back with her, trying very hard to keep her from a total meltdown. I made a mobile out of the fish and shells hanging from my purse, showed her my phone and keys, shook the Altoid box like a rattle; anything to keep little Ms. Ella happy (well, sort of happy). And, on the way home, we had a few more toys to help.
I'm reminded why young women have babies. Though there couldn't be anything sweeter or more fulfilling than having a baby as sweet as Ms. Ella around the house, there's not a lot of down time or napping going on!

A Day in the Park

Mommy and Daddy took Ella to the park just down the street from their house. Ella tried out the baby swing (her second time) and totally loved it. She did look a little scared at first, and held on tight, but in the end you can see that she thought it was awesome!! That's my girl!

Ella Loves Her Bath!

Ella has enjoyed baths from her first time in the Puj tub. She always looked relaxed and loved the warm water being poured over her. Now that she is getting to be a bigger girl, Mom and Dad gave the Spa Baby tub, which looks a lot like a big bucket, another try. At first she kicked and kicked, not wanting to sit down. Maybe she thought she wouldn't fit in that "bucket." Finally she gave in, Mom helped to fold her legs, and she relaxed. It was like a little spa experience for her.




Isn't she the cutest little thing?? And then, here she is, still happy after her spa bath. What a sweet girl!

Baby's First Trip to the Ritz

As all my friends know, every year that we can, we take an anniversary trip to the Ritz Carlton Sarasota. This time we had a new family member to enjoy one night with us -- Ms. Ella. We couldn't have had a better time.

Ella was perfectly happy in her new vacation home! She loved the beach. Her dad dug her a little beach seat and she loved it as the warm water from the Gulf poured in, along with seaweed. After a busy time at the beach Ella fell asleep in both her dad's and grandpa's arms in the pool. She happily took an outside shower to remove all the sand from her sweet little folds.




And, because of all the outside fun in the sun, she slept and nursed better than ever.



Ella got held by her Uncle Matt for the first time, with mom overseeing the whole thing.













Grandma got to enjoy singing to a sweet, smiling, still-wet-from-the-pool little girl.









And Ella totally fell in love with her Grandpa. He had the magic touch, putting her to sleep easily as he walked around, danced with her and chatted with everyone in the lounge.












We all had a wonderful time together!

Happy Times

Left yesterday to come back home. The week went so quick and it's always hard to leave. (I guess that's not going to change ...) Even with all that driving, it's more than worth it to see and hold my sweet grandbaby!

In this cute picture Ella is talking to me and was giggling and laughing. There is nothing better than a baby laugh!

Mornings right now are an especially happy time for Ella. She is well-rested, well-fed and ready to "talk." I'm already missing those special times with her.

I had no idea that I could fall so much in love with a grandbaby!!

One Happy, Smart Baby

Arrived Monday and I can't believe how much Ella has changed in the past two weeks. She is a happy little thing and will spend really long periods "talking" to you, smiling and cooing. She loves when I name parts of her face and body and especially likes when I touch her lips or rub her head. Ella is very smart and seems more like a 3 month old rather than an almost 6 week old. Just this week she has started to try getting her fist/fingers in her mouth and is working really hard at it, drooling all over everything in the process.

Tuesday morning Kelly had to run into work for a conference call and to talk to her boss about her plans. I got to watch Ella. I put her in a sling and took her out for about 45 minutes, walking and sitting by the lake. It was pretty hot outside but that's perfect for Ella. We spent much of the time with her in the sling. When she started to get fussy I took her out and we had fun chatting, as she leaned against a Boppy (which I have decided is totally useless for nursing, but that is a whole separate topic!). And just in time, her mommy was home to nurse her.

In the afternoon Kelly and I took Ella out for coffee. She was such a good girl as her mom and I sat and talked. She loves to be out doing things, staying active. In her sling she can see everything that's going on and really feel a part of life. And, what baby wouldn't love that closeness? Kelly has a nice little wardrobe of slings so lucky Eleanor will be carried around a lot, just like her mom was!