On Wednesday, March 4th, Ella officially got the hang of picking up foods and feeding herself. As of today her favorite pick up food is Veggie flavored Pirates Booty (it's basically an organic cheese puff). She will pick up fruits and veggies but certainly not as enthusiastically as she picks up her 'puffs.' In fact, she'd rather use her pointer to squish carrots than eat them. But persistence pays off because if I offer Ella a food enough times, she will eventually eat it (and like it too). Now, when it comes to bits and pieces on the rug and floor, Ella feels it is her duty to pick whatever it is up and eat it!!
On Monday, March 9th, Todd's parents, Todd, Ella, and I left for Marco Island, FL. Let me rephrase, after a 7-hour delay in Buffalo, we left for Marco Island. We were scheduled to take a direct flight at 8:30am until the captain was unable to get the computer system on the airplane running which meant the plane was inoperable. Which then meant they needed to fly a technician and the particular part up from Orlando on the next flight. So he and the part arrived at about 2:00pm and we were on our way around 3:00pm. The bonus was that we were able to extend our trip by two days without any additional costs!! We ended up arriving in Marco at Aunt Margy & Uncle Tom's condo at the Swallows about 8:00 or so. Our first priority was to get Ella into bed!!
The next day, we took Ella into the pool for her first swim! She loved it!! There were no tears at all. Of course, it does help that the Swallows pool is know for its warm waters!! Ella loved hanging on mommy and daddy, sitting on the shallow step and playing, and even blowing bubbles!! We have not done an official dunk yet. We tried to get Ella in the pool almost every day - as the weather was beyond gorgeous our entire stay - 80s during the day, 70s with no humidity at night. We only had the air on two of our 11 nights there!!
On Wednesday the 11th, Jeff and Kim came down from their vacation in Naples to visit for dinner. We all went swimming and then made yummy kabobs. The next day we brought Mom and Dad Rassman up to Naples to check out Tin City where we had a delicious lunch and a nice walk up Fifth Avenue.
On Thursday, my cousin, Gen, had a bunch of us over to the big house for pizza: my cousins, Bill & Erin and their almost 3-year-old, Rose; my cousin, Natalie; Gen and her almost five-year-old, Mason, and 2-year-old, Bella; Gram; Todd's parents; Danielle & Peter Daigler and their children, Violet, Luke, and Jack; and us! It certainly is fun to be on vacation with family members...just like the good ol' days!!
Ella's FAVORITE part of the condo was the large mirrors lining the front hallway. She would make a beeline for the mirrors numerous times throughout the day. It was probably because of the mirrors that Ella mastered pulling herself up to a stand as well as going from a crawl to a sit on her own!! We really enjoyed being in a one floor place - Ella basically had free reign and we didn't have to worry about where she was all the time. Well, that and the fact that we had our '24-hour nannies' (aka Grampy and Grammy).
The only difficulty Ella had was adjusting to bath time - which is so peculiar since she will play in the tub for up to a half hour with Todd at home. We tried her in an inflatable tub in the big tub, in the inflatable tub in the shower, and in the shower with Todd. All attempts ended up with crying and misery. On the fifth night Todd decided to try bathing her in the kitchen sink...which proved to be the winner...and where all subsequent baths took place! Why didn't the other places work?? The only thing in common is that they all have glass doors?????
On Monday the 16th, all the cousins came over to the Swallows to swim and have lunch! After a lot of hot dogs and swimming, Bill, Erin, Natalie, Rose, Ella, and I took a walk on the beach. Let me tell you, it's not exactly the easiest thing to walk a double wide stroller on the beach during high tide. But it was nice to get to the beach since we spent most of our time at the pool. And the water was the most beautiful blue-green I have ever seen it in my 30+ years going to Marco!!!
This was my first ever St. Patrick's Day I've spent in Marco! We met Gen, Mason, and Bella at the Shops of Marco plaza where they were having a huge party!! Mason & Bella entertained Ella while Todd, Gen, and I enjoyed an Irish-like (Corona) beverage.
The night before we left we went over to Gram's for dinner. We caught a beautiful sunset as someone was playing Taps on the beach. After dinner Gram had a great time playing patty cake with Ella. Gram got such a kick out of Ella crawling around, pulling herself up, and clapping her hands!!
And then it was time to leave. You know how sometimes you just are ready to get home? Well, I was NOT!! I could have easily stayed a couple more weeks. Unfortunately, I had an appointment with my superintendent regarding the job share I proposed for next year. Which wasn't worth coming home to since he denied the proposal again. What am I doing next you, you ask?? Well, I know what I want to do...STAY HOME!! But, there are a bunch of other factors that I keep thinking about (losing my grade level, etc.). However, the number one thing that I keep coming back to is that I would be completely jealous of someone else spending the majority of the day with Ella...I want to be that person! So come May 1st, I will let you know what my final decision ends up being!!
Once getting home not too much was happening. We fortunately had a few really nice days. In fact, one of those days Mom and I took a walk up to the Clarence Center Coffee Shop and had lunch with Ella outside!!!! When Todd came home from work, we took Ella outside to experience grass for the first time. As you can see from the picture above she wasn't all that thrilled that she had to touch this funny feeling stuff. Ultimately, she became comfortable enough to crawl around, pick at it, and even taste a few blades!!
And then the big day came...April 4th...when the twins turned ONE YEAR OLD!!! We were bummed that we missed the official party, but comforted by the fact that Ella, Mom, and I will be leaving to visit DJ, April, Maya, and Zachary from April 21-30th. We'll actually be in California for both Ella's birthday (the 22nd) and my birthday (the 28th). I'm super excited since for my birthday dinner I have requested SUSHI...west coast sushi is SOOOOOO good!!!! Ella has requested acorn squash and prunes!!
For Ella's birthday we are doing a very small birthday brunch with all the grandparents. We are then thinking that we'll do a Big Birthday Bash for all four one year olds (Zachary, Maya, Ella, and Braiden) in July when DJ & April come to visit. How fun would that be?!?!?
This past week has been filled with a lot of sorrow as Ella's hematologist (our favorite doctor and the one who literally saved Ella's life) was in a horrific accident in which both of his children were killed (http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/632486.html). Mom and I went to both the wake and funeral since he means SO much to us. Dr. Ambrusko spoke at the funeral about the short lives of his 6 year old daughter and 4 year old son. He ended by encouraging us to live our lives with exclamation marks like his son did. It just breaks my heart that someone who lives to save other children's lives, loses both of his beautiful babies.
On a happier note, Todd's cousin, Michelle, and her three daughters, Hannah, Brooke, and Paige, came into Buffalo to visit along with Todd's aunt, Donna, for the Easter weekend. We spent all of Saturday in Rochester visiting the Strong Museum (an incredible children's museum). We then went to the Super Wegmans in Pittsford for lunch. We had lunch at Tastings which, I believe, is their test kitchen for all the recipes they publish in the magazine. The food was great and the store was crazy big!!
We then went to a yummy Easter brunch at Mom & John's house. Ella had a great time playing with her cousin, Braiden (Brian & Barb's 9 month old).
Ok, I'm stopping here for tonight, but still have more to write about (and edit - excuse my mistakes for now). However, if I wait to publish until I'm done...who knows when that would actually end up being. So keep checking back as I plan to use the next couple days to add to this posting!!
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