Mele Kalikimaka!

For Erika...

While Grillman was here he reiterated that "Grillman is dead." Rob was able to temprarily reserect Grillman for a few minutes so he could cook some chckenwings. Grillman kept wondering why the GAS grill was reading 500 degrees so quickly after it was turned on. This was the end result...









OH YEAH...
GRILLMAN IS DEAD!

Gearhead?

Is my daughter going to be a gearhead? Today she "helped" Rob polish his bike. She even tried to take a screwdriver to the chrome.

She also has a fascination with the Jeep's tires.

Life is Rough

Actually, the last couple of days have been pretty bad. Ella cries at the slightest "no". Yesterday she had low grade fever and rash, primarily on her hands and feet with a bit on her trunk. No, I don't think it's Hand, Foot, and Mouth. It seems to come and go. This morning she was up at 4:30, wide awake and ready to play. Later she took her her usual, 3 hour nap. It's now almost 11:00 at night and she's still awake. I drove around with her for almost an hour and and she whined almost the whole time. I tried rocking her and she cried, I tried teething gel and she cried. I'm at a loss. Is it too little sleep, too much sleep, too much chaos? Last night we left her with Rob's mother, Nancy, and her boyfriend, Bob. Is it revenge?

It seems that Ella refused to go to bed for Nancy and kept whining and pointing to the door. Nancy brought her downstairs where Bob was watching TV. Ella then LET Bob take her back up to her room and put her down for the night. Maybe I should have given him Ella duty tonight. It seems he has the magic touch.

These photos were taken right before we walked out the door last night. I don't think Ella even noticed us leaving.

For those with snow outside...

It's been quite awhile since Rob and Ella have been swimming. The last time they went she wasn't yet walking. Today the hit the pool, the water was WAY too cold for me so I just documented the event. When we took her out of the water her limbs were FREEZING but she still cried when we put her in the car seat to go home.





















These last pictures are as she's about to push herself forward into Rob's arms. When she gets really excited she stiffens her limbs and they all tremble.

Christmas Pictures

Mom and I decided that we should take photos for Christmas cards. We had a great time. Ella was less than thrilled.

Christmas in Hawaii

Saturday night Rob's command had their annual Keiki Christmas Party. As you all know, snow isn't particularly abundant here so Santa was unable to arrive by sleigh.

















A few days ago my father was babysitting and took Ella for a walk outside. She toddled up to a minivan full of kids, turned to her grandfather, waved goodbye and tried to climb in. It appears that her lack of stranger anxiety doesn't include Santa.

Rain, rain, go away...

It seems that the rains have started. Yesterday we returned to the zoo, made it through the gate and were heading for the tigers when the sky began to pour. Ella thought it was great fun.

Rob has a new pet...

A HOG...

All better now...

The shifting moods have quit shifting as frequently. It seems Ella's in the process of cutting her fourth molar, poor baby.

Shifting moods

Ella is starting to behave more like a toddler. She points to things she wants, pounds on the highchair when she's hungry, and brings you books she wants you to read to her. She also puts on her pouty face if she's irritated and whines if she doesn't get her way. At least she's still easily distracted or teased out of her moods. Recently she's started to throw the occasional fit. Being the wonderful parents that we are, Rob and I usually laugh at her as she starts to assume her fit posture. So far it's nipped the behavior in the bud. Whatever am I going to do when it doesn't?

GramGi was able to tease her out of this one...

New book

We were at Costco a couple of days ago and bought, what has turned out to be, Ella's newest favorite book. It changes almost weekly.

As you can see, it's almost as big as she is.

















Apparently it's quite heavy.
























Flipping through, the tiger is her favorite.

Honolulu Zoo

Saturday we took Ella to The Honolulu Zoo. It was smaller than the San Diego Zoo but was perfect for a first visit. She especially enjoyed the elephants and tigers.

Ella notices the elephants for the first time...
















They were really interesting...
















In front of the elephants with Daddy...

"Not THAT hat, Sparks!"

My Uncle Ed, AKA Sparky, and Aunt Jane are visiting from Vermont. Sparky brought his favorite hat and Jane is frequently heard saying the above words as they leave the house. On this day she won...

Outside at Sunset

Daddy's home

My mother's gone, Rob's home, and my aunt and uncle flew to the Big Island this morning. Rob got home Saturday night and Ella was SOOO excited. Her primary sound since his return has been "dadadadadad." She's still refusing to say "mama". The night he got back she woke up at 2am and didn't want to go back down. I almost had her back to sleep when Rob came in to check on us. That was the end of that! "DADADADA" was all I heard for the next hour and a half. He got to stay up with her and play.

Why Gigi is so much fun...

Another thing to think about...

Over the last year, but more so in the last month, there's been all this bad press about BPA (bisphenol A). It's a molecule used in some hard plastics. According to the FDA it's harmless but others blame it on a myriad of problems ranging from diabetes to ADHD.

Being the freaky parent that I am, I'm on the hunt for BPA-free sippy cups. There are quite a few out there. The hip newer ones start at $7.99 a cup. Ridiculous! I don't spend that much on my glasses and they're used for years. I figured there had to be cheaper alternitives out there and there are. It seem that the plastic to avoid is #7. It contains BPA. Plastics #1, #2, #4, and #5 are OK. I have no idea about the other ones but according to one group all others should be avoided because they have other BAD things. UGH!!!!!!!

The one good thing is that my Avent sippy cups are OK but don't get me started on their baby bottles. At least Ella is almost done with this those.

Cuddle time.

It appears that the dogs make great cuddle buddies. Ella seems to have learned that it's better not to get too close to Jakey because he licks but recently she's getting braver. I think it's because the licking tickles and makes her laugh.

Really, I'm not doing what you think I'm doing.

Ella has found that it's great fun to feed the dogs during meal time. She's learned to surreptitiously hurl them food because I frequently scold her when I catch her at it. It's so hard not to laugh, especially when she gives me her innocent look.

What's wrong with these pictures?