Nature Trails and Green Bottles

Mark took a few days off last week and we made sure we took full advantage of his time with us. We visited the zoo, and took several long walks through the neighborhood and local park. But the highlight of our time was finding a gem called Fullersburg Woods Forest Preserve, less than five minutes from our house. It is a shame we didn’t discover this earlier—but better late than never.

The Fullersburg preserve is so nice and very large. There are several trails ranging from 1.5 miles to over 8 miles for bikes and runners. We took the yellow trail and probably ended up walking a deliberately slow 2.5 miles. As you can see, our sweet Carmella didn’t care much for the beautiful view of the creek below. She was too interested in daddy’s green water bottle.

Poor little Carmella ended up with an ear infection in each ear. Thankfully the doctor got her on an antibiotic right away and she is starting to feel much better. I can tell that her left ear still bothers her a bit, but the right ear seems to be fine. What a trooper.

We are past the worst of it—and I hope on to better days and peaceful nights.

Some “big” news in our little world:

• Ella sits up in her stroller. We have retired the baby carrier and she gets to ride like a big girl now.


• She goes after objects that are out of her reach. I can no longer trust that she is going to stay in the same place when I place her on the floor.


• She eats cereal twice a day and loves it! She knows that something crazy fun is coming her way when she gets strapped into her little high chair.


• She is talking up a storm. She no longer cries when she wakes up (unless she didn’t get enough sleep). Instead, she coos and babbles until I come to get her.


• Some sounds she makes: daaa, da, daaa, da (which Mark loves); mum, mum, maaaa (which I love); and sometimes laaaa, la (which is just cute).


• She wants to sit up or stand up all the time. There is a photo of her playing with the little see-through balls that Auntie Laurel got her for Christmas. She finally is able to pick them up and hold them by herself.

The latest and greatest photos, plus a fun video for you to enjoy...

["Hi Mum Mum Ma. I'm hanging with my Da Da and loving it."]

["Cool...what's this?]

["Oh, I'm just so adorable!"]

[Who couldn't love that face?]

[Our little bouncing baby girl.]

Two Sick Girls

This week has proven itself to be one of the hardest yet. I came down with a terrible cold over the weekend and am still struggling through it. Unfortunately I was not able to keep Carmella from getting sick too. She woke up at 4 a.m. this morning coughing and sneezing. I had to get the saline out and clear out her nasal passages. She absolutely hates the snot sucker thingy. She turns her head and wiggles and squirms. It makes helping her quite the challenge.

It’s moments like these that I wish we lived closer to a set of grandparents. It would be nice to call on someone to come over for a few hours to play with Ella while I tended to my cold, do laundry, and make dinner or whatever. However, play times are the most difficult. My energy level is way down and my throat was so sore this week that any sound I made hurt like crazy. I felt so bad that Carmella had to live in silence for a few days. Plus, every time I tried to bend over to pick Ella up, my nose would run all over the place. Then once I stood back up and the congestion resettled, I would cough uncontrollably. It was impossible to keep my germs from her. Now that I am starting to feel a little better, it seems as though Ella’s cold is getting worse. I actually am glad I am starting to get rested at night because I can concentrate on getting the baby well again.

It is so sad to see such a little thing battling a cold. What breaks my heart even more is that she has started to put a few sounds together that make it seem as if she is calling for me: maaaa, mum, mum, mum. Then what do I do but drop saline in her nose and come at her with a giant anteater looking tool. Oh, so sad.

Rice Cereal

She’s growing up. Our little Carmella had her first rice cereal yesterday. Actually, yesterday was a day of firsts for Carmella. She visited the zoo and had her first try at eating with a spoon. I didn’t get any pictures of the zoo because it was too difficult to try to take a photo and get Ella and the animals in the same picture. We will have to try again another time when we have someone else with us.

But she did see a few bears and the lions. In fact the male lion walked up and bit the female on the butt. She roared at him and he snarled back. Ella was for sure interested in them then. They walked away, but continued to make a lot of noise—must have been feeding time.

Enjoy watching our little girl experiment with the cereal.


[Ella takes charge.]

Another Rainy Day

Since we were stuck inside yesterday, I had all kinds of time to hang around Ella with the video camera. I told you how she is rolling over from her back to her belly...well, now you get to watch her too!

In Like a Lion...

Much of the northern half of the country is experiencing snow right now--some more than others. As a family we try hard to combat the chilly weather by making warm winter meals, cuddling up by the fire and laughing as often as we can. It's easy to get in a few hardy chuckles with a little giggle machine in our midst. Our little sweet Carmella sure knows how to melt away the troubles of the day. All she has to do is give us one of her big toothless grins and we're warm all over.

It is amazing how quickly these little ones grow. Ella is discovering new things every day. Like yesterday, I saw her grab her toes for the first time. She totally loves her Jumperoo and is getting used to the exersaucer too. The exersaucer has a lot going on, but she moves around and meets each new creature, flower, bug or toy one at a time. Here are some photos of our little explorer. Plus a bonus video of her cute little laugh that I finally caught on tape (or digital memory card—however you say it these days).

[All bundled up ready to go out. Thanks to my dear friend, Becky, Ella has all sorts of adorable winter sweaters. This is one of my favorites.]

[Ella finds her toes. "Hummm, I wonder if I will be able to put this in my mouth soon?"]

[Taking some time out to look up at the camera.]

[Exploring the toys on the Exersaucer. "Now let's see if I can move the rings with the back of my hand too..."]

Ella laughing at her mommy: