Life With Ella

Going back to work was no fun after such a great weekend. Before I forget – I want to give a shout out to Ester who was part of our beautiful visiting brigade on Saturday. I’m so sorry I didn’t mention you last night…must have been the Ambien. Ella loves the Japanese toys you gave her and the organic lollipops are a huge hit. Sunny went online this morning and ordered a box of 150. Ella slept for a long time last night. She woke up at about 6:30 raring to go. She kind of crashed right around the time of her yoga class. Sunny said that Ella did well for about 20 minutes and then she pretty much crashed and burned. She took a long nap this afternoon and then we had our Monday night dinner with Stella, Juliet, Helen and Ron. The girls had a great time together. At one point, we brought down the huge Dora tent and set up Yo Gabba Gabba on the DVD player and they were all huddled up watching it together. It was really sweet. Ella is sleeping now and I think I have to go to sleep too.

Ella giving Stella a hug and puckering up for a kiss

The girls in the tent watching Yo Gabba Gabba

We’re back in SF and the NY Giants won the Super Bowl today. HOORAY GIANTS. Maybe the SF Giants will do something for us this year. Anyway…we had a beautiful day on Saturday in NJ and I wanted to document it. In the morning, my mom’s friend Doris brought her grandson Hudson over to play with Ella. They played together over the summer and hit it off.

Ella and Hudson were sweet to watch together.

After Doris and Hudson left, we had a little down time between friends.

Papa and Ella did some are work together. Papa outlined the shapes and Ella told him what they were and colored them in.

KK, Jordin and Kevin came over a little while later. KK brought Ella a new lavender tutu, a Capezio box to carry her ballet gear, and a lavender leotard. As soon as Ella saw her gift, she said, “I want to put it on, I want to do ballet”.

Ella giving KK a thank you kiss

Ballerina Ella – the purple leotard was big on her so we put on the purple tutu with the traditional pink leotard. Notice also, the beautiful ballet ribbon in Ella’s hair.
Jordin teaching Ella some ballet moves

Ella flying through the air with Jordin’s help

After about 1/2 hour of ballet, Ella decided that she wanted a chocolate popsicle so she changed out of the ballet outfit and back to her street clothes. Here is a picture of Ella and grandma and papa’s friend Diana. Diana has a grand daughter Emma who is about 3 months younger than Ella and Diana was playing some fun bouncy games with Ella that I’m sure Emma has taught her.

Nikki B came over a little while later and brought us all Yo Gabba Gabba shirts. Just perfect for us. I didn’t get a picture of Nikki B because she always yells at me if I put in a picture without her approval.

Jordin and Kevin didn’t know about Yo Gabba Gabba, so Ella showed it to them on DVD.

AJ came late in the afternoon. Ella was just so happy to see her – of course we were too, but there’s nothing like watching Ella just stare at AJ in awe. Ella was in the kitchen with AJ and Ella said, “AJ, you’re a really good singer”. So sweet. In this picture, Ella was looking at AJ’s nails and said, “I had my nails painted too. I had red and blue nails”.

Uncle Michael came a little later. Here is Ella, Uncle Michael and cousin Normyn

Ella seemed to be having a lot of fun up there on Michael’s shoulders

Sharing a sweet kiss with AJ

AJ was reading Ella “The Rainbow Fish” right before the picture so Ella decided that under the table was her octopus cave. She tried to get Normyn to go in with her but this was as far as she would go.

Right before Ella was going to go to sleep, she went into grandma and papa’s room to brush her teeth. A few minutes later, grandma and Ella came running back into her room with their shower caps on. Grandma said that it was Ella’s idea.

Goodnight – we all needed to try and get some sleep. We had to leave at 5:00am for the airport.

It was a great trip.

Ella slept through the night last night. Of course, she went to sleep at midnight, but that’s OK – she woke up at 9:30. It was a pretty crappy day here weather wise. It was raining and gray. We had a plan to drive to Monsey and visit Sunny’s dad and have Ella meet Sunny’s brother Jerry. We drove up the Palisades and ended up at grandpa Seymour’s at around 12:30. He was really happy to see Sunny and Ella so that made the trip worth it. Uncle Jerry came in a few minutes later and he got to meet Ella for the first time. We were hoping that Ella could meet some of her cousins, but they couldn’t make it. Hopefully they will all meet next time we come here.When we came back, Ella took a nap – a very long one and woke up to some visitors here. My parent’s friend Adrienne and her daughter Caroline – one of AJ’s oldest friends came over to see Ella. Caroline is 8 months pregnant and I think this is one of the first times that we have told Ella about a baby growing in someone’s belly. I asked Ella if she wanted to touch Caroline’s belly and she was a little hesitant at first, but then she did it. I wonder what she thinks about all of this. Caroline – if you’re reading this – it was great to see you and I hope the end of your pregnancy is easy.Here is Ella, Mommy, Grandpa Seymour and Uncle JerryElla getting a kiss on the keppie from Uncle JerryElla making a fish face at grandmaA big smile for grandma and papa in the bath

We had a great night tonight at AJ’s show, but the title of this entry is referring to last night (Thursday). I wrote last night that Ella was up for 12 hours and then she went to sleep at around 9:00 and that I hoped she would sleep through the night. Well…my hope was not actualized. At around 11:40, Ella woke up and at first it was just regular…”mama, where are you?” I went in and hugged her and then she started crying and asked for a bottle. She hasn’t had a bottle in months, and there were no bottles to be found in the house. I told her that we didn’t have any bottles and she went coo coo – I mean nuts – for like almost 1/2 hour. She was screaming and squirming around and crying – every once in a while she would sort of snap out of it, but it was really intense. I finally went to sleep at around 1:45 and Sunny stayed up with her. Ella calmed down and told Sunny that she wanted spaghetti so they went to the kitchen and had spaghetti and a hard boiled egg. Crazy. Sunny fell asleep with Ella on a bed in Ella’s room from around 3:00 -6:00 and then finally put Ella in her crib.

Ella was great today, but a little out of it. She was terrific at AJ’s show. She became mesmerized the second she saw AJ on stage. She snuggled up with Sunny for the first few songs and then Sunny passed her over to Grandma. Ella was mostly just chillin’ but towards the end, AJ sang one of Ella’s favorite songs “The Truth About Suffering” and Ella perked up, took her binky out of her mouth and began singing along with AJ. It was so beautiful to see. AJ and Uncle Michael were incredible. Ella got to see a lot of friends tonight and so did we and it was so great to see everyone.

Ella hanging out with Papa and having a chocolate popsicle before the show

Almost ready to paint the town red

Ella getting a hug from Jordin at the show

Look at these two – how happy can they possibly be. They are listening to their beautiful daughter sing and are holding their incredible grand daughter

Now that’s one happy grandma

Ella and papa hanging out at the end of the show. Ella is holding Elmo and Zoe that her friend Tonia brought for her from Sesame Street. It’s true…Tonia works on Sesame Street and Electric Company!

Here we are back at Grandma and Papa’s house. Mommy and Mama were having fun tickling Ella who was loving it.

We woke up very early this morning to take a plane ride to NY. AJ is having her official album release show on Thursday. We are very excited for the show. Ella has been telling us that we need to be quiet when AJ sings. Ella was amazing on the flight. We had to buy her her own seat because she is over 2 and it was the best thing in the world. Ella sat on Sunny’s lap during takeoff and landing and then stayed in her own seat for the rest of the flight. She didn’t sleep a wink, but I guess she didn’t need to. She watched the Wizard of Oz, Yo Gabba Gabba, the Backyardigans and watched her own videos that I loaded on my iPod. One of the flight attendants told us that Ella was her BOB (best on board!) We arrived at JFK and grandma was waiting. Ella immediately went into her arms and wouldn’t let go. We came back to grandma and papa’s house and Ella lit up when she saw papa. We had dinner, played a little and Ella was sleeping by 9:00 NY (NJ) time. Hopefully she will sleep through the night.

This picture was taken at 6:45 am. Although Ella was walking in her sleep, she still insisted on carrying her own suitcase and walking to the elevator. When she saw me take out my camera, she stopped in her tracks and looked up.

Ella on the plane in her own seat

Checking out her videos on the iPod

Big hug for Grandma

Big smile for Ella

Back together again. Goodnight!

The rain is back. It rained on and off today. We spent time in the house getting ready for our trip on Wednesday. We’re going to NY to see AJ at Joe’s Pub – it’s her official album release. We can’t wait to go back east and hang out with everyone. Ella played around the house a lot. We got her a huge Dora tent yesterday at Target and she loves it. She really loves it when the dogs come in there with her. I’ll get pictures this week. Ella also painted and splashed in puddles outside in the Zen garden. Here are a few pictures from today.

I came downstairs to find Mommy and Ella painting. I asked Ella what she was painting and she told me that it was a brown bra.

Here is Ella with her rain boots on ready to go out into the garden to dance in puddles

Ella and Bug sharing a loving moment

That’s what I call a good splash!

Great splash that made the bottom of Ella’s pants a little wet – time to go inside.