Weekend With The Myers Family

My Uncle Denny, Aunt Paula, and cousins Drew and Maddie came to visit us this weekend on their way to Perdido Key. We always have a blast with their family, and this time was no exception!

Ella spent most of the weekend alternating between sleeping on Maddie and Aunt Paula. We left the kids with the men one afternoon while we did a little shopping and they could not get Ella to fall asleep, but as soon we returned, Aunt Paula had her sleeping in her arms in a matter of minutes!

Drew also worked up the courage to hold Ella by the end of the weekend! Ben was very entertained by Drew. They took a bike ride together and Drew put together a model Blue Angel airplane that they took up to the park to fly. Ben loved when Drew would pretend to fall asleep on the floor and then wake up with a start when Ben pinched his toes. When Drew got up to do something else, Ben grabbed his hand and said "Drew, sleepy" and would lead him back to the floor to resume the game.

Uncle Denny is a great napper and has a pretty impressive snore. While he was napping on the couch one afternoon, Ben was very curious about the noises that were coming from the sun room. He would slowly walk up to the couch and then run away when he heard a snore. Later, we asked him what Uncle Denny sounded like, and he did a pretty good impersonation!

Ben had fun swimming between Uncle Denny and Carl. He and Maddie also made several batches of coffee cake in his pool kitchen!

By the end of the weekend, Ben had everyone wrapped around his little finger. He drained Uncle Denny and Drew of all their spare change. He had a lot of fun listening to the coins jingle in his pocket and even more fun putting them in his piggy bank! He even put a few in Ella's bank, but regretted his decision the next morning. I found him trying to shake the coins out of her pig!

He also talked Aunt Paula into opening the Tide bottles so that he could look at the soap inside. She indulged him for over an hour and we got some video footage that he's been requesting since they left! He was also amazed when Maddie found a video of a singing washing machine on Youtube!
Thanks to the Myers family for a wonderful visit. Ben is excited about eating homemade ice cream with you in a couple of weeks!

1 Month

Ella is 1 month old today! Maybe I will eat some ice cream for her later tonight :-) She is changing quickly and we are having fun watching her little personality develop. She is already smiling a lot, but her smiles can go to a red-faced scream in less than 60 seconds. She is definitely very opinionated! She is still trying to figure out the whole sleep thing - some nights she will go 4-5 hours and others she is up every 2! She is a great eater and weighed in at 11lbs 2 oz at her check up yesterday.

Ella likes being held, but she loves being held while someone is walking with her!

She is also a fan of both the bouncy seat and the swing, unless she's feeling grumpy, in which case she despises them both!

Looking a lot like her Daddy in the picture above!

Smiles

Ben has been doing a good job of finding things to do while I nurse Ella. He figured out how to put his sandals on all by himself the other day. They were on the wrong feet, but it didn't seem to affect his walking and he was so proud of himself that I didn't have to heartto tell him that they were on the wrong feet! He has also been playing in Carl's guitar case. He pretends that he's going to sleep in it. . . . . .

Or taking a shower. . .

Or using it as a kitchen, complete with a coffee maker!

We were getting ready to go out the other night and I asked him what toys he wanted to take since there would not be any other kids there. He said that we wanted to take his school bus and Baby Ella.

On Friday, we attended a cookout with the ortho residents. We are the only ones with kids right now, so Ben and Ella enjoyed all of the attention that they received. Since Ella's birth, Ben has become a master at getting extra attention. He has an old bug bite on his arm that has scabbed over and at the party he went up to each of the ladies, pointed out his "boo, boo" and told them that it needed a kiss. In between people, he would scratch it a little to make it appear even worse!

He also remembered where Adam and Allison's laundry room was and obtained their Tide bottles. We sheltered him from the washer and dryer until the very end of the night because we knew when he saw these sweet machines, he wouldn't be able to tear himself away! The look on his face when Allison turned them both on was priceless! Seeing the water and soap suds in the washer and the clothes spinning in the dryer was beyond his wildest laundry dreams!

Ella's Newborn Slideshow

Here is a link to a slideshow that Ella's photographer created using her newborn photos. It will be available online for the next 4 days.

http://lahousden.myshowit.com/drake

Reality Check

Carl's parents spent last week with us. It was so nice to have them here, especially during the 3 days that Carl was in Chicago taking an IL state board exam! Ben had a great time with his grandparents, and had an especially good time playing tide-related games with his Grandma. She introduced him to the Tide website as well as videos of people doing laundry on You Tube. She also bought him 2 new tide bottles, one with a purple lid and one bottle that is green and white - Ben was thrilled when he discovered these new "toys"!! They also spent time drawing Tide bottles and washing machines on the chalk board. Ben was amazed that, like him, Grandma NEVER got tired of playing with Tide!! Ben was Rita's shadow all week - he even wanted to eat whatever she was eating! One morning I asked if he wanted to do something special with me and he said "No, Grandma!".

Ella spent a lot of time in her grandpa's arms. She stayed pretty cozy with him most of the day, but he also did a good job of trying to keep her awake since she still had her days and nights mixed up while they were here!

Ella experienced many firsts this past week. This was her first trip to the swimming pool, and our first family picture!

Ben took his grandparents to one of his favorite fountains to see the turtles. He also found a walking stick while there, which was an added bonus! Ben also enjoyed playing outside and trips to the park with Grandpa! Allen and Rita left on Saturday morning and by Monday, reality started to settle in! We were so spoiled by our families during the 3 weeks following Ella's birth. I finally have to start cooking, cleaning, and taking care of 2 kids by myself during the day!! Ella is so irresistible, that Ben can't help following in love with her, too! He constantly wants to kiss, hug, touch, and hold her and when she cries he will put his hand on her belly and say "It's okay Baby Ella". He is so sweet with her, but sometimes he still gets a crazy look in his eyes like he just wants to squeeze her as tight as he can, so I don't leave them alone together!!
These are pictures of Ben holding Ella after her first trip to church.
The weather here is still too warm for trips to the park during the day, so we are trying hard to find things to do that include leaving the house, but staying in the air conditioning. We met our friends, Pam and Aidan, at the museum on Monday. It was my first venture out of the house by myself with both kids and it went smoothly, although toting around 2 kids is definitely a lot more work than just 1. I forgot how heavy the infant car seats are!! Ben started a 6 week summer music class today. His friends are taking a break for the summer and we are going to a different location, so he was a little lost without his buddies, but I think that he really enjoyed doing something from our old routine again. Ella slept in the car seat for the entire 45 minutes, so it was really nice to have a little mommy/Ben time again!

Ella also enjoyed her first bath this week, but it is not a real relaxing experience for her since Ben is unable to see a tub full of water without getting in himself! She has also figured out that it is more fun to be awake during the day and is sleeping 5 hours at a time at night. I usually feed her between 9-10pm and then she will sleep until 2-3am, eat, and go back to sleep until 5-7am. I feel like a whole new person. Keep up the good work Miss Ella!

Ella's Newborn Pics

We had Ella's newborn pictures taken last week by Laurel Housden. Here are a few sneak peeks that she posted from our session!

4th of July

Due to budget cuts, Gainesville did not have their usual 4th of July festivities and fireworks, so we traveled to the little town of Micanopy to watch their 4th of July parade. I felt like I was right back in Gridley again! Micanopy is actually the town where they filmed the movie Doc Hollywood! Ben enjoyed watching all of the tractors, firetrucks, and horses pass by.

Ella slept through the whole trip!

Ben's favorite part of the parade was definitely the candy. We parked ourselves in the shade since it was already 92 degrees at 10:00am, but were lucky enough to be sitting behind 2 boys that would run out and fetch candy and then share with Ben!

At one point, he was double fisting 2 lollipops. He knew it was a holiday when his morning started out with pure sugar!

Later that evening, we headed over to Bryan and Pam's house for pizza and cupcakes.

After dinner, we headed outside to the ice cream social that the Korithoski's neighborhood was hosting. Ben had a great time playing with Aidan and the older boys on the street. And he loved the ice cream, too, of course!

Both Ben and Ella liked the fireworks that were set off at dusk. Ben's favorites were the "rockets" and Ella actually woke up and stayed awake for the show! She was mesmerized by all of the different lights and colors!

These are the last pictures we have from Nana and Aunt Kimmie's visits. My sister left late Tuesday and my mom left on Thursday. It was hard to see them leave, but knowing that we will be back in IL in a few weeks made it a little easier to let them go. Ella will change so much in just that short amount of time though!

Ben was too busy cooking to let me get a good picture of my mom with her 2 grandkids!

My Sweet Baby Girl

I should be resting while Ben naps, but I couldn't resist taking a few more pictures. . . . . .