Aunt Tracey's Birthday

On Tuesday night, Aunt Tracey came over for dinner and some birthday cake, actually ice cream cake! Ella helped Aunt Tracey blow out the candles.

Tracey and Greg's Birthday

On Saturday night, we drove to Roseville to have a birthday dinner with the family for Tracey and Greg's birthdays. Just like at the basketball game, Ella allowed us to pass her around the table. She is so mellow--such a good baby!! She even tolerated the party hat that Aunt Tracey bought :)

She slept in Nonna's arms and sucked on her hand. She's starting to suck her thumb when she's in the mood and she can find it.

Uncle Dick is an old pro now with babies since he has two grandchildren of his own, Willie and Vanessa. Ella just chilled out on his lap as he ate his dinner.

Here is a little video from the night of Ella and Daddy . . .

Dad's Game

On Friday night Ella and I met Aunt Nancy and her friends Diane and George at the McNair basketball game. Ella was awake for the entire game (for once). We all took turns holding her in our laps. She was so happy just to sit and watch the game! Notice she has her Eagles outfit on :)

Kurt, Ella, and cycling

Last night Kurt was watching the Tour Down Under on the laptop and figured he should introduce Ella to the joys of professional cycling.

Ella's Gym

This is Ella this morning playing on her "tiny gym." She hasn't started reaching up to grab the animals yet. She just wiggles around and happens to knock her hands into the dangling objects. She actually does grab the parrot on her bouncer chair but I have yet to capture that on video. I think she is going to enjoy her "gym" more and more as she gets older.

Two Months Old!

Here is a quick video of Ella sitting up on the couch. When she's in the mood for it, she will just sit up and look around, even watch a little "Lost" with mom and dad like she did Wednesday night :) The video is a little awkward because I shot it vertically on the camera but now I can't rotate it so she is sitting up.

The rest here are still pictures of her the same day (the 21st) . . .

The Doe family comes to visit Ella

On Saturday night the Doe family stopped by on their way to Carmel to see Ella for the first time. We had pizza and Kurt and Daniel traded baseball/hockey/basketball cards. Steve had four tricks for making babies happy and I got one on tape--the rocket launch. Of course I didn't think to get out my camera until he had done it several times and she was starting to wear out, but I did get one pretty good launch on tape.

Just More Ella

Here are a couple more cute videos of her. In the first she is in a good mood because it's morning. She is always happier in the morning. I think it's because she has huge bowel movements in the morning, so she feels much better afterward. She is just getting cuter and cuter every day. She now tracks things much better so she has more fun in her bouncer chair watching the jungle animals move around.

In this next video she is actually in a good mood at night. This was just last night. Unfortunately, later on her gas issues kept her up for almost three hours fussing and crying. Kurt walked her around until she finally fell asleep around 1:30 am, but enjoy this video of her in a better mood a few hours earlier!

Seven Weeks Old!

Here are a couple of cute clips of her on her seven week birthday. She seems so big to us now. Her newborn clothes barely fit her. I'm starting to put her in 3 month old sized clothes now. She's such a good eater--we think she weighs close to 11 pounds by now!

She talks!

I swear she does! I just can never get it on camera. No, really, she is very verbal after diaper changing, and I continue to try to capture this adorable babble she does. Whenever I hold the camera in her face she stops and stares at the lens. I think she's reacting to my face more than anything and when I put the camera in between her and I she stops talking.

This video captures a little of her talking . . .

Talking to Daddy

This video is an older one from about two weeks ago. Ella gets the most animated right after she is changed, but I always forget to bring the camera in with me when I change her. In this video, Kurt did the changing so I had the chance to run and get the camera. She loves her daddy!

Jungle Friends

We finally got batteries for the Fisher Price Rainforest Bouncer chair, and wow, with the lights and sound and vibrating chair I get at least five minutes to run around the house doing housework while she is distracted. It's fun to watch her watch the moving animals and lights. I think she thinks the animals are her friends because she talks to them sometimes.

I took the above video yesterday, Ella's six week birthday. The next one is from this morning.

Good Morning!

Of course, good morning for Ella and I means about 11:00 am, but hey, we take our sleep when we can get it. The video is of Ella this morning after she was fed and changed, so she was in a good mood. No, she didn't sleep in her bed, but I keep putting her in there hoping she will go to sleep with the image of the spinning bears above.

Welcome!

Hello family and friends! Our daughter Ella is rooting around on Kurt's chest and crying, so I guess I should keep this short. Today she is six weeks old, so I'm starting this blog. If interested, you can keep updated with Ella's adventures. Although the current videos are based around her cooing and wriggling a bit, when we Rorschach tested her last week she did show an aptitude/interest in backpacking Madagascar, bungee jumping, and Kurt's 10 weeks to peak fitness plan ... so the 2009 video clips could get interesting.