On the move

Ella J has left the blobby, sit in your lap, play-gently-with-a-toy-while-sitting-in-mommy's-arms-stage in the dust. She now spends every waking second trying out new moves with her body. It's pretty cool to watch a human being experiment with their center of gravity and balance as she learns how far she can push herself before....face plant!
She has so much fun scootching and climbing and rolling and pulling and bopping. She's even found new ways to move in things like her bouncey and the bath tub. She will be completely mobile soon and I have a feeling our lives will be changed forever-again!

CARROTS!!

Happy Halloween!

This is Ella J at 5pm on Halloween. She pooped out early after a big day.

Her morning started out normal enough with a bowl of cereal with dad.

Then we got ready for the baby Halloween party at our friend Anya's house.
Ella J lived it up with her buds, Gavin and Lewis at the party.
Costume change! Our little bee tolerated this for about 5 more seconds after the photo.
Happy first Halloween baby girl!

Ella J Month 6!!!

Do they make a t-shirt that says "it's my 6 month birthday and all I got was a stinkin ear infection?" Poor Ella J spent her birthday weekend at the doctor's office. She'll be just fine though.
As a matter of fact, she's pretty much back to her old self already. Except these days, there is no "old self" for Ella J. She is changing so rapidly!
In the past 2 weeks, she's mastered rolling both ways, sitting up (with a little support), pivoting around on her tummy, getting her baby booty up high in the air, picking up the remote control with her feet (just like Dad!) and screaming when she wants something (her mommy and daddy's favorite new talent ;). It is so crazy how quickly this kid changes and grows. She literally changes every day.
Along with all her recent growth, we've had to adopt a new way of thinking about her. No longer is she just a little blobby thing that will sit in her bouncy and be entertained by her goofy parents. Now she is fascinated by power cords, boxes of wipes, cell phones and pretty much anything inappropriate and/or dangerous for babies.
It's so great to be around somebody like her. She's such a great, easy going, sweet baby. She's challenged daily with not being able to control her body fully yet, but at moments, she gives some good old fashioned roller derby "rarrrh" grunts to help get her what she wants or where she wants to be.

Ella J ready for the big kid part of the stroller!

Testing out a baby backpack this weekend.

9\20\09-10\19\09 (43 photos), by ashley aretakis-fredo

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Butt-kicking busy

Wow! I was archiving photos this morning (hold the dork comments please), and noticed that another month has flown by. I remember writing a while ago about a busy August....hah! I don't think Clay and I understood or imagined how much work we'd be putting into our little family.
Both of us have just finished up a very busy first month of teaching, organizing classrooms, and learning about content. We've also managed to keep the house at a liveable level of clean and see friends and family this month. And of course the best part, spending every spare minute available hanging out with Ella J. All this has filled up just about every second of the day. It's wonderful, rewarding work that we both enjoy doing, but it has left us pretty pooped out lately.
I've also continued to grow in appreciation for how my parents. It's amazing how having a kid brings everything full circle and leaves you with a deeper understanding of your own parents.
I imagine as we continue to learn and experience things as parents we will get even more efficient at the working part and less sleepy. For now, we are still all smiles, just with half-opened eyes!
If Ella J's smile is an indicator as to how we're doing as a family, then we have nothing to worry about. She is one happy baby (and well rested :). The other evening she was in her swing that Clay hung in the house and well... I'll stop typing and you can just watch the video.

2009-09-08

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ella j's big weekend

This was Ella J's first true 'weekend' after spending all this week workin' with her dad.

She is doing great with her dad at 'school' (that's what we call it). She spends the day riding around in the Bjorn on Clay's chest, in the bouncy seat being loved on by her 5 older boyfriends, or in Aunt Autie's arms being soothed by a mama. The transition has gone really well. Clay really enjoys having her near him all day and I'm very happy to spend the evenings with her after a long day of work. We've relaxed a little this week about the independent sleeper thing as now the night isn't just about sleeping but making up lost cuddle time!
AND, Ella j is enjoying practicing her latest baby skill: rolling over from back to front! She is getting really good at it, but doesn't want us to take her picture quite yet :). We'll update you when she lets us.

The weekend after our family's first official work week was very relaxing. We went to this great pool in Austin at Reed Park and swam for Friday happy hour-much better than a hot crowded bar!
Saturday was spent sleeping and bbq-ing at a friend's house. Our friends Nicki and Gavin found a baby yoga class on Sundays so Ella J and I aren't missing out on those! We were very happy to spend sunday afternoon together at yoga. Check out the picture of Ella J in her first skirt!
Our little family is very busy these days but having a wonderful time together.

Ella J's first skirt!

In her new jumperoo!

Relaxin with dad in the backyard pond

Busy August

Ella J at Yoga Class

Things have been busy for our little family around here lately. Dad is getting ready to start his Little Feats day school for all the kiddo's and preparing for Ella J to join the group. Mom has been busy preparing for the transition to teaching 5th grade science this year and studying for the 4-8th grade teacher certification test. And Ella J has been consumed with learning how to be even cuter than she was the day before (she's quite good at it!)!
Ella J and I took some time today to go to our last Mom and Baby yoga class before I go back to work. She loves the class so much! She's all smiles and loves the baby massage and baby yoga moves. The picture above was taken by me laying on my back with knees tucked into my chest and her laying across my shins. She loves going for rides!
Ella J is growing faster than ever these days. She's smiling, cooing, rolling over a bit, bouncing, and drooling big time. It's hard to catch all these little milestones on video as they happen, but I managed to catch a really good one today....

Ella J's first raspberry:

Movie Date!

Yesterday, Ella J and I went to the movie theaters to see the movie (500) Days of Summer. You must be thinking, "What??!!! You took a baby to a movie"! Yup. And, two other baby friends came too!
In Austin, we have this great movie theater called Alamo Drafthouse. On Tuesdays they have BABY DAY! All babies are welcome to shows and you don't have to leave if they're crying, you can get up and rock your baby, nurse your baby, etc. all while watching an adult movie.
Ella J, whose recent favorite thing in the world is the TV, was in hog heaven. She loved watching the movie and can probably summarize it better than I can because she wasn't trying to hold a baby, monitor the pacifier, and eat a burger simultaneously.
I'm really enjoying these baby/mom dates we have together. Can't wait for Friday baby and mom yoga!

Ella J and baby friends at the movie theater!

Mom and Dad get a break

Mom and Dad out on the town

Saturday, Clay was the best man in his friend Aaron's wedding in Dallas. We dropped off Ella J at her Grandma and Grandpa's house and headed to town all dolled up. Ella J did great over at Grandpa George's and Grandma Liz's. This was the longest we were away from Ella J and I was very nervous before hand but everyone did great. The dogs loved her!
Ella J had so much fun and so did Clay and I at the wedding. It was really nice to get away with Clay for awhile and act like big kids. The wedding was really nice and the reception was super fancy with yummy food. We got home around 11 and Ella J had such a great time with the relatives that she slept the whole night without waking up (which was great because Clay and I were very, very tired after the road trip and the partying)!
On Sunday Ella J met her soon to be favorite Great Aunt, Aunt Diane. We had a great brunch with everyone, went swimming in the pool, kissed the dogs good-bye and headed back to Austin. Ella J had a wonderful time and slept most of the way back to Austin, catching up on all the rest she missed because she had so much fun in Mansfield and not because of the champagne Mom drank the night before :).

Ella J in Mansfield

Ella J and Aunt Diane

The 4th!

We had a great holiday this weekend.
We celebrated over at the Pratt's house. Clay and Michael cooked up the food and drank beers at the house while the girls and kids swam over at Gigi's.
Ella J went on her first swim and loved it! Later we had some burgers and spent time with our Austin family. We were home by 6 and in bed before the fireworks even began...we had some much needed resting to get to this weekend.
On Sunday Clay and I took Ella J for a second swim at the pool near our house. Here's some pics of her second swim (which she loved as much as her first). Ella J was so pooped from swimming she fell asleep around 6pm and slept until this morning! We're going swimming every day!

bath time, part 2

Bath time continues to be one of our favorite activities around the house. When Ella J was a newborn, I was in the tub with her and would hold her so she could float in the water. It's crazy how much things change in just a few weeks! At some point, Ella J told her mom to 'get out of here and let me have some fun'. Now she plays in her little tub for a good 20 minutes every night just splashing and kicking away. This is one of the places where you are guaranteed to get a few smiles and coos. It's so funny to watch the video of Ella J in the tub for her first bath versus this video of her filmed at 8 weeks. Wow! She grows so fast!

A new house for Ella J!

Clay and I have been looking for houses for sometime. Yesterday, we put an offer on a potential home for our new family. This type of 'adult stuff' is very new and exciting to both of us!
The house is a foreclosure so it's kinda junked up, but nothing we can't handle with a couple of weekends of work and lots of friend's help (hint, hint :). It's in a super nice neighborhood filled with really nice houses in south Austin. This would be a great opportunity for a first home. Things take a little longer when dealing with bank owned properties so we won't know about our offer for a couple of days. I feel pretty good about it though and if it was meant to be it will happen and if not there's plenty of other houses out there!

BOO :(

ella j got her first little shot today at her two month doctor visit. it wasn't nearly as traumatic as I envisioned it. our doc is pretty cool and doesn't frown at me with dismay when i mention 'alternative vaccine' schedule and look at her like she's crazy when she mentions a chicken pox vaccine. when did chicken pox become so bad!!??
at the doc's office she had fallen asleep in my arms and stirred just a little bit as we layed her on the table so the nurse could administer the shot. she got it in her leg and cried for about 1 minute and was done. she's a tough gal.
clay and i feel pretty strongly about all this vaccination business. a good website to check out is: www.generationrescue.org for information on the bad side of shots.
so ella j will be getting most of the shots recommended for kiddos, but at a slower rate. she'll only get poked once or twice each visit instead of three or four times.
enough of my soapbox, now for the stats that everyone wants to hear about....
ella j weighed on the high side of 12 pounds
she is in the 90th percentile in height at 24 inches
she is in the 90th percentile in weight
and in the 75th percentile for head size.
this last bit is very good news as her dad and I have two jinormous heads. maybe ella j will have a small enough noggin to be able to fit into the cutesy girl hats they sell at those stores for normal sized ladies :).

Pool Party!

where's the pool?

Ella J and Grandma Jeanie

Ella J and Great Grandma Mareck

Last Sunday we went to Nanny's Annual Pool Party in Temple. Ella J finally met: Great-Grandma and Grandpa Mareck, Aunt Marilyn, Aunt Linda and Uncle Grady, Cousin Meghan, and Cousins David and Dereck, and John Michael. She also got to see a bunch of folks she's met before and goes way back with ;). We had a really good time and good food (when else do you get to eat KFC chicken?!). Ella J didn't do a lot of swimming, but did a whole lot of sleeping, eating, and getting loved on by her family.

Family

Last weekend ella j got to see her Grandpa George again and meet Grandma Liz! We had a nice visit on Saturday. Aunt Kendall and Kenyon came over and we spent the day hanging out around the house together. We had a great smoked chicken lunch, Clay got to show off the much worked on pond, and the fam went on a nice stroll through our cemetary. We spent the rest of the afternoon on the front porch staying cool as some thunderstorms rolled in. Everyone enjoyed seeing Ella J; especially Grandma Liz and Kendall. Grandpa George was a little hesitant about holding such a 'little' one but he did great. I can tell he's conserving his energy for when she gets a little bigger and they can go wild together! Clay was so happy that Liz brought down some of her famous peanut butter chocolates...so happy that he ate them all that night!

A letter to Ella J on her 1 month birthday.

Dear Ella J,
A month has gone by since you were born and you have grown mentally and physically in that short time more than your dad and I will grow the rest of our lives! I'm amazed by how much you've grown, how much you already know, and how much you can already do.
This month I've also learned what people were talking about when they said "sleep now before the baby comes". Motherhood definitely has it's challenges. As a mother, I've never: slept less, showered less, cried more, managed to do more errands in the five minutes I get a day to do them, seen Clay less, worried more, and felt more incompetent then I have this month.
However, there are some pretty awesome rewards to this motherhood thing-I will do my best to describe my favorites for you here:
1. I've never been able to celebrate toots and burps as much as we do around our house these days. Every one is answered with an "alright, girl" or "ooh, good job!" or "get it out baby". We have toot songs, getting-the-toots-out strategies, and records of the last toot or burp.
2. Before you fall asleep, your face physically displays just about every emotion there is. First you smile, then you frown, then you get mad and red, then sometimes if I'm lucky, you laugh. It's a wonderful falling asleep routine that makes me giggle.
3. I love giving you a bath...you become so relaxed and alert and seem to enjoy it as if the water is where you belong. We will have to get you to the ocean soon.
4. There is pretty much no feeling better than when you lay your head on my shoulder and relax into my body and remind me that I'm your mom. I've done some pretty awesome things in my life and it's pretty much safe to say that none compare.
5. I cannot fully explain in words how awesome it is to be able to think of a human being as absolutely perfect. Prior to you, I'd never met one.
6. No matter how rough our night or how little sleep I'm going on, every morning you wake up so bright eyed and cheery and I fall in love with you more than I was the day before.

I love ya Ella J and I'm so glad I get to be your mom.

Our little water baby

One of our favorite things to do everyday is to give Ella J a bath. She loves them! She seems the most calm and alert during this activity...I think it was because she was born in the water :). Here's a video of her in the tub....

All about Dad

Ella J has a fantastic dad.
Clay returned to work this week and..I have to be honest, I was panicked about how things would go. But Clay handled the week gracefully; he managed to go to work, help take care of Ella J, do the grocery shopping, install a brand new backyard, keep me from losing my mind, and gave me an awesome massage today :).

Dad the SuperNanny:
This week Clay and Xander planted a garden and-the coolest thing-learned to walk on bucket stilts! Clay also received his Montessori diploma for ages 0-3 this week! He'll soon be starting on Montessori certification for ages 3-6. He's busy preparing for August, when his 'peeps' will double from two kiddos to four: Xander, Hutch, Ella J and Xander's little sister (due in June)! I'm so happy Ella J will get to spend all day with her dad in their very own 'natural childlife preserve'.


Dad the Gardener:
Clay found some free sod on Craigslist and loaded the backseat of his car with it and started on Ella J's backyard oasis. His car was completely weighed down with grass..it was hilarious! He's been working on this project for a couple of weekends now...and it's getting close to being finished. The hole Clay is standing in will soon be a fountain with fish to eat the mosquitos.


Just Dad:
Even though he's short a couple of functional breasts, Clay has been busy helping take care of Ella J. She's beginning to understand that the tall goofy guy with the bandana is her Dad and will be sticking around for a while and smells pretty good. He's our very own 'baby whisperer' who gives me great baby advice quicker than I can look it up in any of the 20 baby care books I have. I am so happy that Ella J has a man in her life who is as creative, loving, nurturing and patient as Clay is; we both couldn't be luckier.

Belly button today, driving tomorrow!

A few mornings ago we woke up to find Ella J's umbilical cord stump had fallen off. She officially has an outie belly button (for now). This little step towards independence had me a little worried about her growing up too fast, but she spent the rest of the day snuggled up to my chest to remind me that we still have a little time together :).
I was super excited to see her umbilical cord stump had fallen off because that meant we could try out different types of diapers now that things can touch her belly button. Clay and I decided to go with cloth diapers. I think that used to mean just simply "cloth diapers". Not any more. There are over 10 different cloth diapering 'systems' with at least 20 brands of varying quality for each 'system'.
There are 'all in ones', 'all in twos', 'one sizes', 'prefolds', 'fitteds', etc. People on the web who talk about these diapers like to make it even more confusing with crazy acronyms for every system and brand...so there are AIO BG's and OS FB's...I actually found a discussion forum on the internet about cloth diaper acronyms! This is by far one of the most challenging things I've taken on as a parent.
Fortunately, my ability to make decisions in less than a week's time has returned since no longer being pregnant. I'm happy to report Ella J will be sporting Bum Genius 3.0 One-Size Cloth Diapers. These are really cool because they are adjustable for babies 7-30 lbs and will be the only diapers she will ever need. So hopefully, I will not need to visit anymore cloth diapering forums any time soon.

Lots and lots of visitors!

Our first week at home is over! I have bittersweet feelings about Ella J's one week birthday. She's already grown so much! I'm so happy and proud to see such a beautiful healthy baby in our home. The rapidly passing week has also made me understand a little of the "enjoy them because it goes by so fast" advice the seasoned parents repeat.

Clay and I have found ourselves often wondering what she will be like: what will she do when she grows up? what will her voice sound like? what color will her hair turn out to be? will she be a little elementary school bully? will she want to go to college? will she become the opposite of her parents-a rich, conservative republican? (we hope...then someone can take care of us! :)!.

One great thing about this week is all the friends and family that have come to visit little Ellie J and bring food, love, advice, support, and joy about our arrival. I don't think the week would have been as easy to enjoy without all of our caring, generous friends. I have received so much advice and kind words from the Moms too...without them I'd be a crazy lady with a very cranky baby! I'm so glad we are part of such a caring community of people who enjoy helping us.

One of the best visits we received this week was from little Hutch. He and his family came over and Hutch decided to celebrate Ella J's homecoming by blessing her home with his first steps! We were all sitting in the living room hanging out and Hutch walked all by himself for the first time! Of course the pictures Clay managed to take reflected the level of excitement in the room...but the picture at the top of this post is of some of Hutch's first steps!

Ella J and Aunt Kendall at the Birthing Center

Ella J and the happiest Grandpa on earth!Ella J and Aunt Anna

Hans and family coming for a Saturday visit
Ella J and Grandma Jeanie