Playdate with Oona - Nov 15, 2007

Photo at bottom: Oona (white swaddle) and Ella (floral swaddle) at ~4 weeks old, taken on July 15, 2007.
Photos below left: Oona and Ella at Prospect Park at ~3 months old on Labor Day.
Photo on right: Ella (pink pants) and Oona (orange shirt) at ~5 months old, taken on November 15, 2007. Look how far they've come!













Here are recent videos of Ella smiling at the camera (a rare occurrence) and rolling from her back to her stomach (dated November 11 & 12).

Week 20

Possibly the cutest little chicken in Park Slope

4.75 Months

Ella is 19 weeks old now. Today her naps were too short (30 minutes or less) so she was rubbing her eyes and bursting into tears at random intervals by 5 pm. Earlier in the day, we went out for brunch with our friends, Emma, Alan, and their 20-month old son, Senan. Ella sat in our laps throughout brunch looking around at other diners with great interest, scrunching the paper tablecloth in her hands, and 'talking' loudly. When we left the restaurant, she fell asleep in her stroller for 30 minutes. If she had her way, I think she'd opt to be within eyesight of us 100% of the time. Here's a picture of Ella on her playmat with Mr. Toast.

Surprise!

Michael has successfully fooled Ella into smiling by hiding the camera and catching her unaware. She loves trips in the stroller -- the longer, the better.

New Bugaboo footmuff. Very pink.

Caterpillar

Ella has grown fond of the pink stuffed caterfly (butterpillar) thing in her crib. It was a gift from relatives in Florida (the Demmas!). She'll stop wailing long enough to smile at it when I pull the tail to make music, and she'll grab it and try to suck on some part of it before starting to wail again about being left in her crib to go to sleep. Its antennae usually look a little soggy on close inspection.

This stuffed thingamajig is going to be logging airmiles with us for the trip to California and Sydney in December!

Ella: 4.5 months now

Ella is 4 and a half months old now. She smiles, 'talks' and sometimes squeals when she's awake and happy, and she's almost always happy between naps during the day.

She has perfected a shriek when she's bored or wants attention, and she cries when she wants to be retrieved from her crib.

Things she likes: playing with the Whoozit toys; pulling on the hanging toys on her playmat; looking in the mirror; sitting in the Bumbo chair; kicking and waving her arms on the bed; songs sung to her; listening to stories and looking at the pictures in books (when she isn't tired); walks in her stroller; baths in the bathtub; trips by car/subway/train/plane and visits to friends' houses; and being held by family and friends.

Things she dislikes: Naps, bedtime, sitting in her carseat when the car or stroller isn't moving, being held in the 'cradle' position when she's awake; loud background noise.

We love love love her!

Ella & Melissa and the Baby Bjorn

Ella & Melissa and the Baby Bjorn
Originally uploaded by hartley

She lasted about 10 minutes in this before crying to get out, but we're on our way...

Today is the first day of Ella's 7th week, and we got our first 'intentional' smile this morning from Ella!