Weekend Update

Well, our precious baby is getting bigger and bigger right before our very eyes! She has fully developed 2 chins, and we believe that she is working on a third. She’s starting to smile at us, although sometimes she just gives us a blank stare, as if to say, “I don’t know what you want me to do.” Either smile or blank stare, her big blue eyes are so beautiful! The question now is, will they become Alexander blue or Murray blue?

We had an appointment with her Pediatric Dermatologist on Thursday and he was very impressed with the skin growth on her feet. He just kept looking at her foot and saying how she had full skin on the bottom. Joe and I knew her feet looked good, but it was nice to hear the affirmation from the Dr. The truth is that the bottom of her feet look almost normal! The top of her feet still have some work, and her left shin and knee still have some work to do, but all of it has progressed really well, and the fact that the bottom of her feet and her right knee are almost normal brings us a lot of promise that the rest of her legs will follow suit.

On another note, thank heaven for Gi Gi. My mom, Gale, has been in town for a week helping around the house and with Ella, and Joe and I are so appreciative! The other day Ella got this great idea to wake up at 4 am and just stay awake. Gi Gi arrived at 8 am and took over while Joe and I napped. This morning Ella was being very cooperative and slept in until 10 am, so while the 3 of us were up stairs sleeping, Gi Gi just watched TV, read and ate breakfast…I think she even washed the dishes. Joe especially likes that she makes the coffee in the morning. We have come to know first had the value of a loving family support system.

Friday afternoon we went to my office to show Ella off. Since its August recess a lot of people were gone, but we still had fun. She slept most of the time, but a few very special people caught a glimpse of her blue eyes. We told Ella that she had to go pick out her future office space. We just don’t know if she’ll be a Senator from Wyoming, New Jersey, Virginia or some other state. The next stop is to show her the White House where she’ll live someday.

This morning Gi Gi was reading the paper while she was holding Ella, and Ella was completely entranced by the big black headlines on the white paper. She just kept staring at the paper like she was reading right along with Gi Gi. Later today Aunt Katie and Uncle Jarrod are coming down to meet Her. They are having Ella’s cousin in October and she is very excited. She only has 3 months to be the youngest in the family, so we have to capitalize on that.