Life With Ella

Ella woke up really excited this morning.  She couldn’t wait to go see the Nutcracker.  Before breakfast, Ella got her outfit all ready for the show (which was not until 2:00).  Ella loved the Nutcracker and was so excited when she recognized songs and mesmerized by the costumes and dancing.  Tonight, Sunny and I went out and Ella hung out with grandma and papa.  Before we left, Ella and grandma started playing this really cool game of charades.  Mommy and I joined in for a few minutes and I have some of it on video.  I’ll make a movie tomorrow.

Beautiful Ella taking it all in.

In the store picking out a nutcracker.

The three of us!

Papa, Ella and grandma after the show.

Ella and grandma watching mommy do something in charades.

We’ve all been having a lot of fun spending time with friends and family.  On Christmas Eve, we went to Candace and Courtney’s for a little while and then came home and exchanged presents with Stella and Juliet.  We gave the girls the same dress and Helen, Ron, Julie and Justin gave the girls the same ring.  They were so sweet together.

Ella loves her ring so much.  It’s a little big on her so we need to get it made smaller because she doesn’t want to take it off.

My parents came in late last night and even with all of mommy’s efforts, Ella was too excited to go to sleep.  As soon as Ella saw grandma and papa, she started talking a mile a minute about going to see the Princess and the Frog and the Nutcracker and everything else.  I think she finally fell asleep at 11:45.  This morning, we went to Dim Sum with Becca and Kate and then just the family went to the Princess and the Frog.  Ella loved the movie.  She was so proud of herself that she wasn’t scared at all – not even scared of the “shadow man”.  After the movie, we hung around the house and had some great brisket leftovers.  Tomorrow we go to the Nutcracker.

On the way to Dim Sum.

Ella was loving the shrimp dumplings.

Ella and Becca fooling around as usual.  Notice their festive holiday colors.

Mommy and grandma helped Ella on a fun motorcycle ride after the movie.

When Ella woke up this morning, I broke the news to her that I was going to take her to the doctor.  She didn’t seemed thrilled but I made things all better by going to Happy Donuts and getting her a chocolate donut that she ate in bed.  The visit to the doctor was fine.  Ella’s hives are getting better – less angry looking.  The doc thinks she may be allergic ao amoxicillin.  Good thing to know.  After the doctor, we did a little shoe shopping for Ella – her brain is growing, her heart is growing, her body is growing and her feet are growing.    Tonight, Sunny made a delicious brisket dinner for our friends Tonia, Simon, Lola and our friend Leslie who is in town from Chicago.  We had an amazing dinner and then the Arena/Kim clan came over to celebrate Stella’s 5th birthday.  It was really sweet.  Ella had something going on with Juliet tonight, but that’s what “sisters” do.  KJ and Lola were really cute together.  Enjoy the pics. Chocolate donuts – the breakfast of champions. Ella and Bug. Ella and Towby. Our dinner guests Leslie, Simon, Tonia and Lola. Ella teaching Lola how to use a tiny spoon.Happy Birthday sweet Stella!  Thanks for letting us celebrate with you. Can’t wait for the party on Sunday. KJ making the moves on Lola. Leslie and Lola. Beautiful Ella with her banged up face.  The poor baby is recovering form a face smashing on a table last night and an infection under her nose.  In 3 days, she will be perfect! Leslie and her girls.

Well not really…today Ella and I went over to Borders to return some books that Ella received for Chanukah.  Whenever Ella makes any returns at Borders we let her take her money and get whatever she wants.  Today she picked out a Dora crystal making science kit, a funny light up ball and this bullhorn thing that she has been calling a walkie talkie.  She loves it.  There is a little video at the end showing how much Ella loves her new toy and how much she loves us.  Tonight we had dinner at Acme with our friends who live in the building.  It’s one of the last nights at the Acme Chop house.  Maybe we’ll go there with my parents on the very last night, the 26th.  We have made a lot of beautiful memories at Acme.  That was the last meal we ate the night before Ella was born.  It was also the first restaurant that Ella went to at like 7 days old.  So many more wonderful memories, fun New Years Eves, I hope the next place is just as great for us.Ella’s welts/dots/hives, whatever are not getting better.  I am taking her to the doctor tomorrow morning.  Hopefully its nothing.  She has been so amazing at not scratching and not complaining.  After the doctor, we are going shoe shopping.  Her feet are getting bigger and she is very sensitive about how her socks feel in her shoes. Ella and her mini bullhorn.4 more nights at the Acme Chophouse.

It seems as if this illness is never ending.  Ella woke up this morning, after sleeping super late which was a beautiful thing and said, “Mama, my legs are itchy”.  I went over to her and looked at her legs and they had red spots all over them.  They looked like bug bites or hives.  Poor baby – I wish this would all end for her.  She was very cool about it – I had her put on some soft tights so that she wouldn’t scratch herself and she was totally cooperative.  I called the doctor and they said that sometimes once a virus is leaving the body, they get these hives for up to 10 days.  We gave Ella benedryl and it seemed to stop her itching but the hives didn’t go away.  She was sleepy during the day, but had a lot of fun with Gilana who came over to visit.  Julie and Gilana came over this afternoon.  Gilana is about 10 months old and is the cutest baby.  Ella was quiet and gentle and really sweet with her.  Here are some pictures of them.

What a sweet friend.

Gilana pulling herself up on Ella.  Julie remembers Ella being this young and beautiful.

How cute is this kid?!

Getting ready for bed.  Ella agreed to wear pajamas so that her legs didn’t get itchy.  I hope her hives are doing a little better in the morning.  This kid is an amazing trooper.  What a love.

Today, Debby, Toby and Rachel took Ella (and Sunny and me) to a late Chanukah tea.  We went to a really sweet place right by Golden Gate Park and Ella, of course was dressed as Cinderella.  We all had a great time.  Ella had a blast with Rachel who is in town from college for winter break.

On Friday night, we stayed home.  We were supposed to have movie night with Stella and Juliet but they had to go somewhere.  They have been watching Annie lately and we were going to watch it on Friday night so we went and got it for Ella.  At first, Ella wasn’t too sure about watching it.  I went into the living room and started watching it and Sunny and Ella were doing something else.  Then Sunny came into the room and soon Ella was standing in the doorway with a look of amazement on her face.  Her eyes lit up as she heard Annie sing “Maybe”.  Ella looked at us and said, “she has a beautiful voice”.  Ella watched the rest of the movie and has been talking about it all weekend.  We downloaded the music and Ella has been trying to learn Annie’s parts in all the songs.  She is so into the music…it’s beautiful to watch her learn.

Mommy and Ella walking down the hall on the way to the tea.

A princess in the elevator.

Stirring lots of sugar in her tea.

Playing around with Debby from across the table.

This is a very loved child.

Happiness.

More fun with Rachel.

The princess and her new purse.

Ella had a little bit of a rough night last night with her sinus stuff, but her fever is gone.  We hung around the house today.  The weather was pretty bad – lots of rain.  This afternoon, we went to Brickelle’s 5th birthday party.  Ella was so excited all day about seeing Brickelle and some of her classmates.  She was out of school for 4 days last week so it was extra exciting to see everyone.  Brickelle’s party was at this sweet tea place in Ghirardelli Square.  It was also a princess tea party so Ella was ready to rock and roll.  Here are some pictures of the afternoon.

Ella is ready to go!

Ella and mommy on the way to the elevator.  Check out their rain gear!

On the way to the party, we saw this beautiful rainbow while driving down the Embarcadero.

Some of the princess party goers.  Ella and Brickelle decided that the vase of roses would add a special touch to the picture.  What they didn’t realize was that there was water in the vase and they got wet when they tipped it towards them.

These two have too much fun together.

This was one fun princess party for all!

I was in the middle of reading a story to the girls when the guy in the top hat came over and said, “Do you mind if I read them the story?”  I said, “Sure – go ahead – good luck trying to get them to listen.”  He looked at me and said, “They’ll listen, they’ll listen”.  Whatever.  Here are 2 shots of Sunny “enjoying” his story and his presence.

It wasn’t really raining but the girls decided that the four of them needed to shove themselves under one umbrella.

Second night of Chanukah.

Good thing Ella can’ read yet.

This summer while we were back east, Ella fell in love with the trumpet.  Uncle Michael is a professional trumpet player and Ella and Michael had some pretty wild jams this past summer.  Every time Ella sees a trumpet, she says, “you know me and uncle Michael are trumpet players”.  Ella also told us that she wanted a red trumpet.  Well…while searching around for a red trumpet (I didn’t think they existed) I came across this red pocket trumpet.  It is smaller than the trumpet Ella was playing this summer and it’s shiny and red.  She really seemed to like it – I think we were more excited about giving it to her.  We’ll see what happens.  We may have a pro on our hands.