Let's go drivin'

After a fantastic BBQ lunch with Jay & Janet Friday afternoon, Jon and I dropped Ella at Grandma and Pop's and went to the driving range! It was the first time Jon and I had even hit a ball since we moved back from Florida. We want to play at the beach, so we figured we shouldn't be entirely rusty. I considered it a success for myself, as I only missed the ball in its entirely about 4 times or so (I am not a great golfer...I like to torture myself by trying to play, though). I even managed to get off a few decent shots that I felt really good about.

Playing golf, to me, is sort of like taking pictures. If I take 50 pictures and get one or two really nice ones, that's good. Same with golf. If I hit 50 balls and get one or two really nice shots, that's good too.

Ella apparently did okay while we were gone, but when we got back over to Mom and Dad's to pick her up, she flipped OUT. She's in a really super-clingy phase to me right now, and if I'm around, and she's in a mood, she doesn't want anyone else to hold her or to be anywhere away from me -- she gets MAD. So mad that it kind of scares me. I feel terrible NOT holding her when she's like that, but I feel terrible holding her all the time as well, because then I feel like I'm just giving in to her and ultimately, making things worse. I hope this phase is short-lived...it's not fun for any of us.

Madam Crazy Hair

A failed attempt

Well, we had plans today to have Ella's 1-year pictures done. Ella, however, had other ideas about how the afternoon would go.

Remember that precious, happy smiling baby from her photos 6 months ago?

Here, let me share with you a reminder:



This child was not present today. The child there today was screaming, clingy, and absolutely not interested in smiling.

Where was my happy, smiling baby?

We wound up rescheduling for next week, so hopefully things will go better then.

I think he's a keeper....

...don't you?

Ella's 1-year stats

-Weight: 20 lb 15 oz (50th percentile)
-Height: 28 1/2" (25th percentile)
-Head size: 19" (97th+ percentile...off the charts)

Poor kid, she's evidently gonna be a shorty like her momma.

Anyway, as soon as we got in the exam room today at the doctor's office, she knew where she was -- and let everyone in the building know she wasn't pleased to be there. Something about that crinkly paper on the table that she doesn't like. She had to get 4 shots AND a finger prick today. That, combined with the FOUR teeth she's cutting on top, made for a grumpy little girl this evening. Nothing a good night's sleep won't fix, though.

In other news, my iMac died on Sunday. It had been running on borrowed time for awhile, as the hard drive had been gone for a couple of months (we were running on an external hard drive), and it finally gave up the ghost. It's not just sad, but it really put me into panic mode, since I work from home now, having a computer (specifically a Mac) isn't an option. I'm working on the MacBook as a temporary solution, but a 13" screen for hours at a time is not good for my already-crappy eyes. Hopefully, though, we'll able able to get either a Mac mini or a new iMac sometime in the near future.

The big 1.0!

Ella turned one yesterday! We had a nice little party with some friends and Grandma and Pop. I was worried about how Ella would do around all the people, since she sometimes freaks about a bit in large crowds or around people she doesn't know that well, but she did great! All the kids were really good, actually -- no tears from anyone until the very end :)

I made the cake myself (although Jon was on standby, ready to go buy one if disaster struck). I have to say, I was pretty happy with how it came out! I did wind up baking two, though, as the first one cracked really badly and wasn't really usable.

Ella had her own cupcake, which I didn't make. I didn't figure it was worth a whole box of cake mix just to get one cupcake for her...and after all my test runs, we're REALLY sick of cake around here. It take a lot for me to say that...I like cake :)
Once we let her loose on it, she didn't get TOO messy, which Jon and I predicted. She's a pretty tidy eater, surprisingly.

At the end of the day, we had one crashed-out baby girl.

Jon and I can't wait to see what the next year brings :)

The Natural Science Center

Since the weather was pretty nice today, and we (or more specifically, me) were itching to get out of the house, we took Ella on the first of what I'm sure will be many trips to the Natural Science Center. We made the mistake of going a little too close to nap time, so there was some periodic grumpiness, but overall, we had a nice visit.

They have completely redone the "animal discovery" (read: mini-zoo) area since the last time we were there, and I was impressed with it! It all looks really nice, and there's a decent variety of animals there.

We saw maned wolves, tortoises (which came RIGHT up to you...and they were huge!), and a tiger, amongst others.

As we were walking down the path to the tiger enclosure, we could see him pacing back and forth in front of the fence. Suddenly, he let our a roar, and jumped and lunged at the fence -- holy crap! The gibbons up the hill went into a screeching fit. It was pretty impressive -- and intimidating. I couldn't get a really good picture of him, because he was constantly on the move.

Piggy-tails!

Veggies live in the fridge.

We'd had this weird smell going on in the pantry for a few weeks. It was getting worse and worse over time, to the point that it would smack you in the face as soon as you opened the door, and it would linger after the door had been shut. You could even smell it in the living room. It was RANK.

Jon and I both had poked around in there a bit, and hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary. We typically don't keep anything really perishable in there, so as the smell progressed, I began to really fear that there might be SOMETHING in there that I didn't want to see. Like something dead.

Today, it was SO bad that we decided start taking stuff out to try and find the culprit. Logic said to start at the bottom shelf, so Jon pulled everything out. Nothing down there but onion skins. Certainly not the source of the stench.

Next shelf up -- nothing. I was thinking that maybe something had gotten stuck towards the back, but we weren't finding anything.

The next shelf was the one we use most often, with the bulk of our canned goods. We occasionally keep some potatoes and garlic in there as well, but they go pretty fast. Jon rustled around for a minute -- I wasn't really expecting him to find anything on that shelf.

Suddenly, I hear Jon say, "Eww...we have a winner!". He pulled out a bag with the remains of what appeared to be 3 red onions. Oh, it was rancid. I have no idea how long they had been in there, or even WHY they were in there to begin with!

Seriously repugnant.

So, now I'll be taking care to make sure that any vegetables brought into the house go into the fridge. Maybe even the ones that don't even need to be in there. Just to be safe.

Obligatory update

I guess it's pretty bad when my own husband is telling me I haven't updated my blog in awhile.

I'm not meaning to be neglectful, it's just that there's not been anything to report. I've been working, Jon's been working, Ella's been crawling and pulling up on any and everything, and has even started cruising a tiny bit! So she's probably been the busiest of us all.

More teeth are starting to make their way in. This time, she's definitely noticing it, and is not particularly happy about it. Evenings tend to be rough, and last night, she woke up screaming about 45 minutes or so after we put her to bed (that *never* happens). I was working, so Jon sat in with her until she settled back again, which took about an hour and some Baby Tylenol.

I think I forgot to post about the 2nd trial cake I did the week after the first disaster. 100% improvement! I did sort of cheat and bought a shaped pan, but I made up for that by making my own fondant and buttercream icing! Looked good and tasted great! If I can pull it off again next weekend, I'll be in good shape!