Jennifer Woodbury

Wish me Luck...and Pool Fun

I need lots of luck because tomorrow morning I will be attempting to travel on a plane with Ella all by myself for the first time. I've flown with her once before, to New York City last October, but I had Matt to help me then. At least this trip will be much shorter (we are going to Salt Lake City, which is only an hour and a half flight). My first big concern about traveling by myself is the logistics of getting through the airport pushing a stroller with one hand and carrying her enormous car seat with the other hand. I thought I had avoided this problem by ordering this cool device that will let you carry your child's car seat on your back, but I made a crucial mistake by waiting until the last minute to order this thing online and then forgetting about the Memorial Day holiday so that it will arrive exactly one day late. It will probably be on my doorstep just as I am struggling through airport security. Lovely. My second big concern is that the flight will be full and I won't be able to use said car seat to strap Ella into an extra seat. My child will sit very nicely in her car seat, and may even fall asleep (one can only hope!), but she does not like to sit on laps. She will just wrestle me to try to get on the floor so she can crawl in between the aisles. I really don't even want to think about what the flight will be like if I have to hold her in my lap, so I will just think good thoughts for empty seats on the flight.

In other news, we took Ella to our neighborhood pool for the first time this year and she loved it! This was a huge relief to me because the pool is where I had planned on spending the majority of my summer, so if she didn't like it I was in big trouble. She had so much fun splashing the water in her little intertube. The only problem was that she did not want to keep her sun hat on her head. She kept yanking it off and I'm of course paranoid about all that sun on her head and face, but I don't know what I can do aside from gluing it onto her head (don't worry, I would never really do that). I guess my only real solution is just to become less paranoid. I'll work on that. Anyway, let's proceed with some pictures, shall we?

All ready to get in the water:

Doing some serious splashing:

Don't blink or the hat will be gone:

Carmel By-The-Sea

We took a little day trip to Carmel today, one of our favorite little towns. It's small, beautiful, laid-back...just our style. When Matt and I went on our honeymoon here almost 7 years ago, we had no idea that we'd one day live less than two hours from it. Since we moved to California it's always been our weekend getaway of choice, but we haven't been back since before Ella was born so a trip was long overdue. I was getting excited that this would be Ella's first trip to the beach, but then Matt reminded me that we took Ella to Corona del Mar in Southern California when she was only 2 months old, so that burst my bubble a little. But that first trip wasn't very long, so maybe it doesn't really count? I know that I didn't get any good pictures so it definitely doesn't count in my book!

We couldn't have picked a more perfect day to head to the beach. It is cloudy and foggy a lot of the time in this area, even in the summer, but today it was beautiful and sunny. It was a little windy however, hence the crazy hair in many of the photos to come! Our first stop as soon as we arrived this morning was of course the beach:

After our walk on the beach, we headed downtown to browse the boutiques, galleries, and candy stores (well, we did more than just browse in those). Then we headed to Flaherty's for lunch...

...where Ella very much enjoyed the clam chowder.

Finally, we did the gorgeous 17 Mile Drive, where we enjoyed the views of the ocean (and Matt enjoyed the view of the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course).

After the scenic drive, we headed home. Now the plan for the rest of the long weekend is just to relax! I hope you are all having a fabulous Memorial Day weekend as well!

Everyday Joy

I don't want to jinx anything, but Ella has been healthy for 9 whole days now (well, she has a little sniffle but compared to everything else...that's nothing). And I had honestly forgotten what a fun, happy, joyful child she normally is. It wasn't her fault that she was not her normal self when she was sick of course, but what a difference being healthy has made! I just wanted to make little list of some of the little everyday things that are making me smile lately:

• Getting hugs from Ella in the morning when I go to get her out of her crib. She squeezes me really tight like she just missed me so much during the night and doesn't ever want to let me go. Melt a mom's heart why don't you!
• Chasing Ella all over the house. She absolutely loves this. She'll start to crawl away, then sit down and look back to make sure I'm coming after her, and squeal and laugh in delight as she starts crawling away again as fast as she can. Then when I  catch her I give her a big tickle.  She's especially ticklish under her arms and that's how I get the best laugh out of her.
• Listening to her babble to herself in the car in that little munchkin voice of hers. She will carry on entire conversations with herself.
• Seeing Ella bounce up and down when she hears music or watching her "read" a book intently. She really loves music and books. Couldn't make me happier.
• Watching Ella get into everything around her. She is just so curious. Usually this means that she creates quite a mess wherever she goes, but I love to watch her explore like this.
• Being followed around the house. Sometimes it is hard to get things done with Ella underfoot, but I like that she wants to be around me and I realize that this will be over all too soon. Even when I'm showering in the morning, instead of playing with the toys I've gotten out for her she will hold vigil outside the glass shower doors just watching me. In her more dramatic moments, she will even stand up and press her face against the glass. It makes me laugh just to think about it.
• Squeezing and kissing those chubby cheeks of hers.
• Seeing Ella's big grin. She seriously has the cheesiest grin when she smiles real big but it's so adorable I swear she will spend her life getting whatever she wants if she keeps on flashing that thing around.
• Listening to Matt sing bedtime stories to Ella in her bedroom.
• Holding Ella in her rocking chair right before bedtime. It's one of the only times she will really let me cuddle her.

PS - Doesn't Ella look like such a little kid in that first picture? I see less and less baby every day. Please excuse me while I go back to working on figuring out a way to stop time.

Food for Thought

I took these pictures of Ella last month because I knew I wanted to document her habit of throwing food off of her high chair when she is through eating it  (or if it didn't even look appetizing in the first place). It seems this is a common habit among kids her age. She still does this, but now she also likes to put a piece of food in her mouth, chew it up, and then spit it out. Yuck. It's not so bad at home where I can just throw the chewed up food in the sink and wipe her down right there, but it's a little harder when we're out in public. Just picture me catching soggy goldfish in my hands and then looking for somewhere to dispose of them.  It's not pretty!

While we're talking about food, let's discuss Ella's eating habits. They aren't good. The only things I can count on her to eat in a day are: yogurt, raisins, goldfish, and Cheerios (which she will only eat first thing in the morning for some reason). I really don't think this constitutes a well-balanced diet. There are some things that she will eat on occasion: mac & cheese or other pasta, pizza, avocado (only if it's dipped in salad dressing though), cooked carrots, fruit, cheese. But really it's about only 50/50 with those foods. And just when I think I can count on her to eat something, she changes her mind and will refuse it the next day. There are a few things I keep trying to feed her again and again and she refuses every time too, like chicken and scrambled eggs. Oh, and I have a hard time getting her to even drink any milk. I know a lot of moms have the opposite problem in that their kids want to drink too much milk. Not Ella, she's like a little camel. If I didn't wave the sippy cup in front of her face about a hundred times a day to remind her that it's there, I really don't think she would mind if she didn't drink a thing!

Anyway, I'm sure these are very typical mommy worries about food. Ella is very happy and energetic so I guess I should stop worrying that she will starve to death. However, I am still open to any food advice for 1 year olds!

One Good Picture

All I really wanted for Mother's Day was one good picture of me and Ella together. And that's exactly what I got - ONE good picture. No more and no less. So I guess I can't complain. Ella threw an absolute fit every time I tried to hold her and get her to look at the camera, but by some absolute Mother's Day miracle Matt was able to capture the one nanosecond that Ella smiled:

This is what she was like for all the other nanoseconds:

And eventualy she refused to even face the camera:

But I got my one picture and that's all that matters. Thanks goes to Matt for the great photo and for putting up with my unsolicited photography advice!

Happy Mother's Day!

We sort of celebrated Mother's Day yesterday around here. I got my gifts from Matt and Ella on Saturday morning. Matt is notorious for not being able to wait to give gifts, and I love that about him!

First I got this box of yummy gumballs. Matt knows I am addicted to these and so he picks up a box for me every once in a while. I know $20 seems crazy for a box of gumballs, but what can I say? These are really good gumballs. Every time I pass the Origins store in the mall I always put a quarter in the gumball machine to get one. They are so soft and deliciously minty but not too strong. And you would be appalled if you knew how fast I have been blitzing through this box already. They are just so good!

I also got this new diaper bag that I have been eying for a while. I have had my trusty old Skip Hop Dash since Ella was born, but I am ready for something a little more pretty and feminine. Matt actually got me the Gold Flower pattern I asked for, but now I think I like the Floral Sky pattern better, so I may go and exchange bags tomorrow. Here they are side by side. If you have an opinion on which one you like better (or if there is another pattern you prefer on the Fleurville website) please weigh in to help me make a decision. I am so indecisive when it comes to stuff like this.

And lastly, Matt gave me a cute skirt and top that he picked out. Yes, my husband enjoys shopping for clothes for me, and he is good at it too! In fact, the pair of shoes I own that have gotten the most compliments on are ones that Matt picked out. I know, it's really too good to be true.

After the gifts, Matt and Ella took me to one of my favorite restaurants for lunch. And then the real celebration began because I was kicked out of the house and forced to spend the afternoon all by myself! Now you have to remember that Matt has been in New York for school for three weekends in a row. And Ella has been sick constantly. So I literally have not had a break in almost a month. And it was starting to show, so I think that's why Matt forced me to go out on my own. And it was wonderful. I got a pedicure, went shopping, and then went to Barnes and Noble and sat in the cafe reading magazines. It was wonderful. And then I missed my family and went home (much to Matt's disappointment). He was hoping I would stay out a lot longer, but honestly I ran out of things to do! I was contemplating going to see a movie on my own, but there was nothing out that I wanted to see that I thought Matt wouldn't want to see with me. I did have a nice 3 1/2 hours on my own though, and Matt fed Ella dinner, bathed her and put her to bed all on his own. Amazingly Matt will be home again next weekend so I think I may have to do this again...

Anyway, Happy Mother's Day to my own mom and every other mother out there. I hope your day is fabulous!

If I Told You...

...that Ella has roseola, would you believe me? I don't think I'd believe myself either. Now, this isn't a professional medical opinion, but it is based on some solid internet research. She had a high fever of almost 103 degrees off and on for three days. Today, no fever, but a wicked rash appeared all over her back and neck and sadly made its way to her face by day's end. Classic roseola symptoms. And I hope that rash is gone by tomorrow (according to my sources, the rash can last anywhere from several hours to several days).

Let's recap, shall we? In less than two months, Ella has had the following:

• Rotavirus
• Cold
• Croup
• Roseola

Do you think she's done yet? I'm not counting on it. If anyone reading this hears of any other illness going around, please let me know so I can prepare because I can pretty much guarantee that Ella will get it.

Silly Sunday

Ella and her daddy being goofy after church today:

Yes, she's picking her nose, but I still think it's a cute picture!

Here's one without her finger up her nose:

This afternoon, we took Ella out for a little spin in her car:

Ella wasn't a fan of the sun hat. She refused to keep it on for more than 2 seconds.

And finally, here's me and Ella after we changed her out of her dress. And the fact that her pink shirt happens to match my pink sweats is a total coincidence. I try not to make a habit out of dressing us alike!

Oh, and Ella is feeling much better. Thank you so much for all your well wishes and advice!

Croup

Ella has croup. I thought that was an illness that babies only got in the olden days, but I guess not. Who knew? Anyway, what gives? First rotavirus, then a cold, and now the croup. Yes, every few weeks it's another fun-filled sickness in the Woodbury household! Is this normal? I am hoping after this we will be illness free through summer at least! Ella was up all night with this horrible cough, so  I took her to the doctor this morning and she suspected croup but couldn't tell for sure since Ella wouldn't cough during the appointment. She kept asking me if her cough sounded like a barking seal and I couldn't recall offhand what a barking seal sounded like so I couldn't tell her for sure. But Ella just woke up from a nap with that cough again (apparently it gets worse when they sleep), and sure enough, it's a total seal cough! So croup it is. I guess if it gets really bad they will put her on steroids, but for now all I can do is just run the humidifier and sit in a steamy bathroom with her and pray she gets better soon. Of course all of this happens right after Matt goes out of town. It always goes down that way. A few weeks ago Ella threw up all over the car as we were driving back home from dropping Matt off at the airport. I just loved cleaning that up all by myself! Anyway, if anyone has any good tips for dealing with croup, please send them my way.