We thought we had through the weekend to baby-proof the house. Specifically to put a gate up at the stairs and into the kitchen. Apparently it takes just a day or 2 for kids to figure out this crawling thing, then they are everywhere. Ella is officially at the everywhere stage. Metti had to go underneath the dining table yesterday to get her. Now her new favorite thing to do is get a toy and throw it so that she has to crawl and get it. Of course every time I turn the camera on she just sits there. Finally this morning I was able to capture the cuteness of the crawling on video...thanks to her Miley Cyrus musical card.
I do think that Ella likes this new independence. You can tell that she likes not having to wait for things to be given to her, she just gets them herself. And now she can explore all those areas that she's never been before, ie. under the dining table.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
A Mover and A Shaker
Yes, Joella Gale Murray is on the go! She has been taking just a few crawls for several days now, but just recently started actually crawling a significant amount. Her favorite thing to crawl to is her reflection in the mirror. Apparently she thinks she is a very cute baby!
Now if you all would pray for Ella's sweet knees. They are getting all torn up. We have all sorts of padding on them, but it either slips down or just isn't enough. Her right knee, which is her good knee, even has a big boo boo on it right now from the crawling. The knees don't seem to hurt her though, which is a good thing.
Now if you all would pray for Ella's sweet knees. They are getting all torn up. We have all sorts of padding on them, but it either slips down or just isn't enough. Her right knee, which is her good knee, even has a big boo boo on it right now from the crawling. The knees don't seem to hurt her though, which is a good thing.
Monday, April 21, 2008
She's Baaack!
Gi Gi was back in town for the weekend to see her favorite granddaughter. She has been spending time in Charlottesville with Ella’s cousins, Nate and Sam, and decided to take a weekend jaunt up to Alexandria. It was great having her here. At first Ella did the “Ella Stare” to Gi Gi. Anyone who has been around Ella knows her stare. She just looks at you with a straight face and those chunky cheeks. No emotion, no movement. Just several minutes of eyeing you down and studying you completely. I guess she wants to make sure you’re ok. Anyway, she gave Gi Gi the Ella stare all the way home. Once we were home she loosened up and started to be her typical self.
Most of the weekend was spent with me and Gi Gi trying to prompt Ella to crawl. The best we can get out of her is a couple of crawls. Then she tries to get up on her feet. Crawling I’m ready for, but standing and trying to walk…I need a few more months before that!
We met Uncle Curby and Aunt Gina, along with Sam and Nate, for lunch yesterday to give Gi Gi back. Ella was a bit on the fussy side (I think it’s the nasty weather combined with these teeth coming in), so Joe and I had to take turns holding her throughout lunch. Sam and Nate are still young enough that they just sat in their seats while Curby and Gina got to eat with two hands. At least we all got to enjoy some good southern food at the Cracker Barrel. Fried catfish, boiled cabbage, and cole slaw, topped off with an apple dumpling for dessert all rounded out with iced sweet tea! Delicious!
A side note, when I took Ella to the bathroom to change her diaper I was told that I should “keep a hat on that baby so that the sun won’t do that to her skin.” I just thanked the lady for the suggestion and went on my merry way. Honestly, sometimes I am shocked with the unsolicited “advice” perfect strangers give. They don’t know me, they don’t know Ella, and they sure as heck don’t know her situation, yet a vast majority think that they have just the right answer to her skin. My favorite is when people ask if she has the chickenpox.
Anyway, we can’t forget that today is Ella’s 10 month birthday! She is such a big girl and such a blessing to us. Last night we were playing tickle monster with her and she was laughing up a storm! It was so sweet. I had to just stop in the middle and hug her and kiss those chunky cheeks!
Most of the weekend was spent with me and Gi Gi trying to prompt Ella to crawl. The best we can get out of her is a couple of crawls. Then she tries to get up on her feet. Crawling I’m ready for, but standing and trying to walk…I need a few more months before that!
We met Uncle Curby and Aunt Gina, along with Sam and Nate, for lunch yesterday to give Gi Gi back. Ella was a bit on the fussy side (I think it’s the nasty weather combined with these teeth coming in), so Joe and I had to take turns holding her throughout lunch. Sam and Nate are still young enough that they just sat in their seats while Curby and Gina got to eat with two hands. At least we all got to enjoy some good southern food at the Cracker Barrel. Fried catfish, boiled cabbage, and cole slaw, topped off with an apple dumpling for dessert all rounded out with iced sweet tea! Delicious!
A side note, when I took Ella to the bathroom to change her diaper I was told that I should “keep a hat on that baby so that the sun won’t do that to her skin.” I just thanked the lady for the suggestion and went on my merry way. Honestly, sometimes I am shocked with the unsolicited “advice” perfect strangers give. They don’t know me, they don’t know Ella, and they sure as heck don’t know her situation, yet a vast majority think that they have just the right answer to her skin. My favorite is when people ask if she has the chickenpox.
Anyway, we can’t forget that today is Ella’s 10 month birthday! She is such a big girl and such a blessing to us. Last night we were playing tickle monster with her and she was laughing up a storm! It was so sweet. I had to just stop in the middle and hug her and kiss those chunky cheeks!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
God is good!
We took Ella to her annual pediatrician appointment this morning. She is a whopping 18 lbs and 27 ½ inches long. I can’t remember her head measurement but its normal. This keeps her in the 25th percentile, which makes us very happy! She has consistently been in the 25th percentile, which means she isn’t losing any weight from healing (which can be an issue with EB kids because their bodies burn so many calories from healing).
The Dr. also said that Ella is developmentally right on track! She is doing everything your average 10 month old does. I was a bit worried that she wasn’t getting enough formula because she would much rather eat real food (sometimes we can’t get it in fast enough). Luckily she is totally normal in that regard too, and is now getting most of her nutrition from her food rather than the bottle. Now if we could just get the sippy cup figured out. She’ll take it sometimes, but for the most part she doesn’t want much to do with it.
The best part, of course, was when the Dr. complimented us on what a great personality Ella has. See, I keep telling you that she is a sweet baby. Now I have proof!
As far as the crawling goes, we’re still waiting. She did take a couple of little crawls the other day, but Metti and I got so excited that she stopped to stare at us. We try to entice her with the cell phone and blackberry, or even the TV remote control, but she just lays on her tummy and reaches as far as she can trying to grab the gear. I know that as soon as she crawls I will go into panic mode trying to baby-proof the house.
Needless to say, this was a great visit with the Dr. God has blessed us so much with how well Ella is doing. We are lucky to be her parents. God is good...all the time.
The Dr. also said that Ella is developmentally right on track! She is doing everything your average 10 month old does. I was a bit worried that she wasn’t getting enough formula because she would much rather eat real food (sometimes we can’t get it in fast enough). Luckily she is totally normal in that regard too, and is now getting most of her nutrition from her food rather than the bottle. Now if we could just get the sippy cup figured out. She’ll take it sometimes, but for the most part she doesn’t want much to do with it.
The best part, of course, was when the Dr. complimented us on what a great personality Ella has. See, I keep telling you that she is a sweet baby. Now I have proof!
As far as the crawling goes, we’re still waiting. She did take a couple of little crawls the other day, but Metti and I got so excited that she stopped to stare at us. We try to entice her with the cell phone and blackberry, or even the TV remote control, but she just lays on her tummy and reaches as far as she can trying to grab the gear. I know that as soon as she crawls I will go into panic mode trying to baby-proof the house.
Needless to say, this was a great visit with the Dr. God has blessed us so much with how well Ella is doing. We are lucky to be her parents. God is good...all the time.
Monday, April 14, 2008
What goes around, comes around
Ella has a new trick. Well, its not really a trick, but rather something she just does without really thinking about it. Ella loves her daddy, and if she is hanging out with daddy and he hands her over to me, she cries. Not only does she cry, but she reaches out her arms for her dad. The second he gets her back she stops crying. When it’s me and Metti, she’s fine with me and even gets excited to see me. And if it’s just me she is all giggles and fun. Only when she’s with her dad and he passes her along do we get this reaction. And its not every time, just MOST of the time. I usually have to take Ella and turn her so she can’t see her dad anymore, then distract her. Once she’s through the initial shock of being taken away from her dad, she’s fine.
Now this might hurt the feelings of a lot of moms, but not me. When I told my dad (Paw Paw) about what Ella does, his response was, “She’s just like her mother.” Yes, I was and still am my daddy’s girl. I love my mom and we have a special bond (she’s my best friend…other than Joe of course), but there is something about the connection between me and my dad. In fact, I attribute a lot of who I am as an adult to the fact that I have always known that I am loved by my dad, and that no matter what other boys thought, daddy thought I was something very special and important. I am so happy that Ella has this bond with Joe. And I know Joe loves it! I just hope that she doesn’t grow up to be a tomboy…not that there’s anything wrong with that (Darla).
Now this might hurt the feelings of a lot of moms, but not me. When I told my dad (Paw Paw) about what Ella does, his response was, “She’s just like her mother.” Yes, I was and still am my daddy’s girl. I love my mom and we have a special bond (she’s my best friend…other than Joe of course), but there is something about the connection between me and my dad. In fact, I attribute a lot of who I am as an adult to the fact that I have always known that I am loved by my dad, and that no matter what other boys thought, daddy thought I was something very special and important. I am so happy that Ella has this bond with Joe. And I know Joe loves it! I just hope that she doesn’t grow up to be a tomboy…not that there’s anything wrong with that (Darla).
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
It's a busy time of year
I got put on notice from the blog fairy that it was way past time for an update. What can I say, we’re busy people.
If you didn’t get a chance to watch Oprah, it was a great segment that talked about a fundraising effort by several of Hollywood’s finest, including Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Ken Paves (stylist to the stars), Eva Longoria, and several others. They raised over $2 million for EB research!
As far as around here, we’re keeping busy. For several months Joe and I have been house hunting. If you have been there before, you know how discouraging it can be at times. Well, we finally found a great house that was actually in livable condition, we put an offer, which was accepted, and were moving forward. Unfortunately we pulled out of the deal yesterday. Two words…bad neighborhood. Apparently it’s VERY bad. Of course it looked great in the middle of the day, and even at night when we drove past to check things out it looked ok. But everyone kept warning us that it was a bad neighborhood and that we should not go any further. We heeded their advice and are once again beginning the house search.
Ella is doing great. She has one of her little bottom teeth in, and 3 are poking through on the top. She had a couple of cranky days, and the drool is pouring out of her mouth, but all in all she’s handling it well. She is also still on the verge of crawling. She is really good at going backward, and tonight Beck and I swear we saw her take one little movement forward, but that’s it! We are on pins and needles! Beck predicts that within a week she’ll start crawling. You know that I’ll post as soon as it happens.
And yes, we will get new pictures up soon. Just so you know, she’s still cute.
If you didn’t get a chance to watch Oprah, it was a great segment that talked about a fundraising effort by several of Hollywood’s finest, including Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Ken Paves (stylist to the stars), Eva Longoria, and several others. They raised over $2 million for EB research!
As far as around here, we’re keeping busy. For several months Joe and I have been house hunting. If you have been there before, you know how discouraging it can be at times. Well, we finally found a great house that was actually in livable condition, we put an offer, which was accepted, and were moving forward. Unfortunately we pulled out of the deal yesterday. Two words…bad neighborhood. Apparently it’s VERY bad. Of course it looked great in the middle of the day, and even at night when we drove past to check things out it looked ok. But everyone kept warning us that it was a bad neighborhood and that we should not go any further. We heeded their advice and are once again beginning the house search.
Ella is doing great. She has one of her little bottom teeth in, and 3 are poking through on the top. She had a couple of cranky days, and the drool is pouring out of her mouth, but all in all she’s handling it well. She is also still on the verge of crawling. She is really good at going backward, and tonight Beck and I swear we saw her take one little movement forward, but that’s it! We are on pins and needles! Beck predicts that within a week she’ll start crawling. You know that I’ll post as soon as it happens.
And yes, we will get new pictures up soon. Just so you know, she’s still cute.
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