Summer Vacation

Enjoying a well-deserved drink.


Ella playing at the children's museum.


The amazing view from our balcony.


On the Zoo-Choo.


More Zoo-Choo.


This July, we took our first family vacation. We rented a house at the Cape with our good friends Erik, Nicole, and their daughter, Madeline. We went to the Zoo, the children's museum, shopping, and the beach (of course). This was Ella's first experience at the beach, and to put it lightly, she absolutely hated every minute of it! We were so disappointed that she hated it so much because Erik and I are huge fans. It was like torture to her and she was not a fan of the sand by any means. Well, we'll just have to keep taking her to get her more familiar with it. We have some work to do before our next family vacation next year!

Fun with flowers

Never played in dirt before!

Such a pretty flower.

Mom, the sun is in my eyes.

Cupcake face

One of the only things Ella would eat while she was sick. This photo was taken after she started feeling better. Cute as a cupcake!

Madeline's 1st Birthday

Ella's friend Madeline's 1st birthday!

Ella's second Easter

So much to catch up on

I admit I've been not so great about keeping up with the blog lately. It's just so hard to find time with working full time and raining a one year old! Much has happened since my last posting. First of all, Ella started daycare. And sadly to report at the end of her first week, she caught one nasty virus to say the least. I guess it was only a matter of time before she got sick because she's never really been around a large group of kids before. By mid-day Friday before her first official week was up, her daycare called me and told me she had a fever and that I should come get her. By the time I got her home, her fever shot up to 102 and she was not doing so great - barely drinking and not eating at all. From there it only got worse. On Saturday we took her to the doctor and learned that Ella had an ear infection. I knew that was coming because she had been playing in her ears a lot. We had been really lucky up to this point because Ella has only had one other ear infection besides this one so far. After the doctors we went to the pharmacy to pick up her antibiotic so we could get it in her system. After a weekend full of extremely high fevers and excessive crankiness we decided that we needed to get Ella back to the doctor. When the doctor looked in her ears he told us that she now had a double ear infection and that most likely her antibiotic was not working. We ended up switching the antibiotic which did not start working until the third day. What was supposed to be Ella's second week in daycare ended up being a week at home with mommy battling her high fevers and congestion. This was actually the first time Ella got a fever and she ended up battling fevers that reached 107! I know, I didn't even know that was possible. We were so scared she would start convulsing because of the high fevers but she did not - thank goodness and bless her heart. It seemed like we were constantly on the phone with the doctors and Erik's mom seeking advice. There were times we even called at 2 AM. At one point Erik and I were getting ready to pack her up and bring her to the ER but the doctor advised us that as long as she was coherent and was alert that she would be ok. Because her fevers were so high we had to constantly put her in the bath to try to cool her off. As soon as we would take her out, she would turn purple and start shivering and then fall asleep. My poor little girl. After another visit to the doctors because she had developed a rash over her whole body which turned out to be because of the really high fevers, we were sent to the hospital to have her blood tested. The blood work came back negative for bacteria but positive for a virus.

I am happy to report that Ella is now doing much better though she is still not yet 100%.

Daddy snuggling with Ella when she was sick.


Here is a picture of Ella's rash (on her back) which went away after two days.

A bittersweet update

We have finally decided it is time to put Ella in daycare. From birth until now, Ella has been so very well cared for by my mother and grandmother. Seeing that my sister is expecting her second child soon and there won't be room for three car seats in her car, we've decided that we ought to start looking. If we lived closer, or even in the same state for that matter, life would be easier, but that's just not the case. We absolutely love it here.

Well, it just so happens that a daycare slot from a close and reputable provider will have an opening in two weeks for a 1 year old. We went ahead and reserved the slot and Ella will officially be enrolled in daycare two weeks from now.

I'm sad that Ella won't get to spend as much time with her grandma, great grandma, grandpa, auntie, and cousin but we'll have to make it a point to get together often. They all, along with Erik of course, helped me raise her to the sweet girl she is today and I am so grateful for that. And, I look forward to them helping me continue to raise her! They are my village - as in it takes a village to raise a child.

It will however, save me about 2 hours of driving a day, which will give Erik and I more time to spend with her. The driving has always been worth it to me knowing that she's in excellent hands in a loving and nurturing environment.

It's bittersweet.