Nine Months Old

Seriously?? Nine months old on Thursday?? No way...not our baby!! As I write Ella is rolling and sliding herself around our family room. She is not crawling yet, but she is able to effectively get herself around a good six square foot area by rolling and scooting backwards all while moving at least two of her stacking blocks (one of her favorite toys) with her. Every once in a while she'll catch a glimpse of herself in the glass of our entertainment center which she thinks is just amazing. But she still gets her biggest smile and lets us know with a scream when Maggie, our kitty cat, comes into her view. A sure sign that Ella is growing up is that she is totally content playing on her own. She has been rolling, propping herself up on her hands, occasionally getting into a quadraped (on her hands and knees), moving backwards...aka entertaining herself...for a good 45 minutes right now.

In the meantime, much has gone on over the past month! Probably two of our biggest moments were, first, Ella getting another great check-up from Dr. Ambrusko her hematologist/oncologist, and, second, visiting with family over the Christmas holiday. Sorry, family, health takes precedence!!!

One event I failed to mention in my last blog was that on Saturday, December 20th we started the vacation with a family portrait as a gift to my mom. We traveled down to Holland, NY to have our wedding photographer, Dave Saviano of Countryside Photography, do our photo shoot. To see all the pictures visit the site up in the upper left hand corner. (Let me know if you have difficulty accessing the photos.) The babies did quite well and looked very cute...as did the adults too. For a photo document of our photo shoot click here to see Maya & Zachary's site. Let me know if you have difficulty accessing the photos.

I ended last month's blog with our Christmas Eve events that did go as planned. It was very cute to see all four babies together at Brian & Barb's house. My favorite picture is the one above with all of the Roba grandchildren and Papa John showing what I'm sure everyone thinks at one time or another when they are balancing four babies between the ages of 7 and 9 months!

Ella and I slept over at Mom's house Christmas Eve and after going to bed around 1am, Ella and the twins decided that they were really excited for Christmas morning and got up at 6:15am! But it was at least fun to get up with DJ and April and see all the babies together. If you have already looked through Maya & Zachary's photos you will have seen how busy the babies were trying to open up gifts. They found it hard to wait until the rest of the house got up!!

Christmas night we spent at our house with Todd's family. That certainly worked out well since it meant that we could put Ella to sleep at her regular bedtime which, these days, is important to Ella's staying happy! Take note of the cute Mets hoodie Ella received from her Aunt Kim and Uncle Jeff. Todd is very excited to get to some Bisons games this spring and summer now that they are the farm team of the Mets!

A day after the Saks/Radder clan left we got together for lunch with Sara, Ella's physicians assistant from the NICU, and Lynn, one of Ella's nurses from the NICU. As we had spent countless hours in the NICU, it was wonderful to sit down with them NOT in a hospital setting. Furthermore, they loved holding and playing with a HEALTHY Ella!!

New Year's Eve was spent very low key which Todd and I both appreciated! We made a delicious dinner together and then watched a movie before heading to bed by 11:oopm! We did celebrate a belated New Year's on Saturday with our neighbors, Nicole and Bob at Kathe and Michael's house. Ella came with us and then went to sleep in her pack 'n play until it was time for us to walk back home.

The rest of the week was spent recuperating before I went back to 'work' de-decorating the trees and stairways that I had helped my mom assemble. Meanwhile, Todd prepped the basement with his dad and brother to have two cracks repaired. Oh the joys of adulthood...within the last month we had to replace a sensor in the Explorer, replace the modulator in the furnace, and repair two cracks in our basement. They say things happen in threes, so does that mean we're done for now?

Ella and I started attending Wee Read at the Clarence Library on Wednesday mornings. It's for babies 6 months to 2 years. We sing songs, read a couple books, and then play too. Ella has been a hit with the teacher and moms as she actively sings and bounces as we sing. Ella and I also took out her first book, Spider's Busy Day by Eric Carle. It's one of Maya and Zachary's favorite books and has become a favorite of Ella's too!

Finally, Ella has been experimenting new foods like yogurt (which she always makes a funny face when she has her first spoonful), rutabaga, peas (although she got a couple hives after eating them so we will have to try them again at a later date), green beans, and ground flax seed. We have not given her any finger food yet, but I think it may just about be time to try it some out. We are also beginning to get into somewhat of an eating routine. It's been working out that I breastfeed Ella when she awakes in the morning and from naps and then I bring her downstairs to feed her some solids: cereal in the morning, yogurt after her nap, and then a dinner of vegetables and some more cereal. We are ready to begin adding fruits into her diet too (I know, a bit delayed, but the winter is not exactly the best time to find fresh fruits here in Buffalo).
I think that finishes our latest update. If there's more to add I'll be back! And, I promise, now that we are getting back into a routine that I will get those weekly updates back into action!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!