Now what?

Well, Ella was again sick this past week. Strep throat of all things -- we have a feeling our daycare is the culprit of most of the illnesses, but such is life when your child is in daycare. We are headed to the ENT doctor this week. Ella's ear infection is looking better after the shots a week ago, but it has not cleared up yet. So we'll see what the ENT doctor says and if Ella likes this doctor anymore than she likes her pediatrician.

Ella is really getting big. I got this shirt out for the first time this weekend thinking, it's a 12 month size shirt, it will fit fine. Ha! Ella will be wearing this shirt this week and then it will go in the box of, I'm too big for these clothes! Nice!

We had a nice relaxing weekend. My aunt & godmother came to visit, so we spent a lot of time talking and playing with Ella. Very enjoyable. We also got our old shed taken down, which was a relief. My parents came for a visit today and were able to take the old shed away! I told my dad that I was thankful he could be my junkyard! He was planning to come to DSM today anyway, so he just brought a small trailer along to take the shed away.

Tired Baby ???

This past week, Ella's ear infection continued to flare up. So she went to her regular doctor and got 3 doses -- 2 shots each (for a total of 6 shots in 3 days) of Rocephin and we found out that she has croup. Croup is a viral infection that really cannot be treated. But our doctor did prescribe a form of steroids to help take the swelling away, since Ella was hoarse. It broke my heart not to be able to hear her cry -- once again, one of those moments that you wish for something that most other times you don't want to hear. Ella will go to an ENT doctor in August to have a specialist opinion and possible talk about getting tubes...

We had a good weekend though. We went to visit my parents in NW Iowa (Charles' parents were away for the weekend, so we didn't get to visit w/ them) and spent time time w/ Charles' two sisters and their families, as well as one of his brothers. We also got to see my niece & sister-in-law. We were also able to ride our waverunner for the first time this year. We're a little sore today and I have numerous bruises. Charles & I tend to be a little rough on each other when we ride the waverunner together. But, we enjoy it.

This photo of Ella was taken a week or so ago. She's been getting very sleepy on our nightly walks and this was one of the nights that she fell asleep in the stroller. I know some of you are thinking, why don't you tilt the seat back. Well, Ella wouldn't stay asleep if we did that!
That's all for now folks, enjoy your week!

Haircut

You thought this would be about Ella -- Ha! Charles & I gave our dog, Duste, a hair cut this weekend. I think this is the shortest her hair has been since she was a puppy 8 years ago. She also got a bath and two good brushings. It was Pet Salon day at our house....and she loved every minute of it --- NOT!

Hide - n - Seek

Like my cousin Paige, I also like to play hide-n-seek. Ok, it's actually a matter of finding the toys I want to play with. She does this almost every day and even though she hits her head on a regular basis doing this, she never cries. However, when Daddy or I scold her for playing with things she shouldn't -- baby monitor, firewood holder, then she puts out her pouty lip and wails.

Ella has also started to babble a lot -- she's really liking, "da, da, da, da". It doesn't sound like Dad, at least that's what I'm telling myself.

Yum

I guess all the sucking and chewing that Ella has been doing on the coffee table has finally paid off. About a week ago, Ella got her first two teeth on the bottom. She didn't really get crabby, which we are ever so thankful for. One morning I checked and there they were. Nice.

She has also discovered in the past few days that she really likes Fruit Puffs, which in essence are compressed air w/ a little fruit flavoring in the shape of stars. Ahh, the joys of baby type food. She's working on Cheerios and being able to get them to her mouth on her own. She does good, but they can't get them off her fingers. Oh well, she's learning.

We have also been giving her a sippy cup for about 6 weeks now and till now, she has just been playing around with it. But this weekend, she took her first sips of water from it. She wants to have nothing to do with juice in it, but water she'll drink.

Happy Baby...

Here is Ella, as usual her happy little self. We have been very busy over the past two weeks. Getting some new cement poured for our driveway and new shed, constructing the new shed (from a kit), roofing & painting the new shed and also getting a new fence in the backyard. Sheeesh, we've been busy. But we got it done with some major help from our parents.

Ella is over Hand, Foot, & Mouth disease and seems to be over her earaches as well. She continues to crawl all over the place and pull herself up on whatever she can find. She's just so busy. But that tends to keep Charles & I laughing, which is the most fun.

This is one of her favorite toys that she can pull herself up on. This morning she decided to flip it over and fall over at the same time. Then she proceeded to lie there until she realized what had just happened and then popped back up and found something else to play with.