Saturday, March 21, 2009

Meet the Aboul-Ela's

On Sunday we had a little Aboul-Ela family reunion at my grandparent's house in Denton. My mom's mom is Jean Aboul-Ela and that is who Ella is named after (we decided to put two l's instead of one so she wouldn't have to be correcting people all her life).

Here she is with her namesake, Great Grandma Aboul-Ela

IMG_0302

Here she is with Great Grandpa Aboul-Ela

IMG_0295
IMG_0304

Great Aunt Nessy
IMG_0296

Great Aunt Shareen
IMG_0297

Great Uncle Sam
IMG_0303

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

First Airplane Ride

On Friday Claire, Molly, Ella and I headed to the airport. Claire and Molly went back to Phoenix :( and Ella and I flew to Dallas. We got a late start from Sandpoint and Ella and I were one of the last people on the plane (at least we didn't have to wait). Someone was nice and gave up their aisle seat for us. I decided not to take her car seat since I thought it would be easier to use the front pack. Looking back I'm not sure that was the best decision because it was interesting trying to figure out what to do with her the first time I needed to use the restroom. Needless to say, I added a few more skills to my list of things I never knew I could do.

Ella was great on the plane, as soon as we took off she couldn't keep her eyes open and slept on almost every flight (we had 3 legs before we finally made it to Dallas).

While we survived, I think it would be a lot easier to travel with two adults. There was a lady on one of my flights who was traveling with a 3 year old and 18 month old by herself and that looked ALOT harder than a 5 week old so I guess I can't complain.

Here's Ella in her little airplane outfit

IMG_0288

Here we are on the plane

IMG_0289

IMG_0290

Monday, March 16, 2009

Waking Up Is Hard To Do

My dad and I mixed this video of Ella trying to wake up. It usually takes her about 30 minutes of this to both wake up and go to sleep.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

All Grown Up

Last Tuesday Ella turned 1 month. We went to the post office to get her passport and then Brad took us out for lunch. They had an indoor waterfall which kept her quiet the whole time.

IMG_0260

On Saturday, Claire and Molly came to visit and help out. Ella had lunch with the girls when we met Claire's friend from high school for lunch on Monday.

IMG_0265

After lunch we went to the grocery store and mom forgot to bring the pacifier, so we found the baby aisle and opened a package. I thought we should probably sterilize it so I decided to suck on it a little before giving it to her. It was a little small for my mouth. She was happy the rest of the time. After shopping we were ready to take her to her first brewery (Laughing Dog).

IMG_0266

On Tuesday she helped us get second place at trivia night at Mick Duff's.

IMG_0268

She smiled at both Brad and I the day before she turned 1 month and she's been doing it more and more (it's proportional to her amount of crying, I think she's designed that way so we don't get too frustrated). Molly and Claire are experts at getting her to smile.

IMG_0271

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Airplanes, Kittens and Mullets

Ella had a busy weekend. Brad's dad's cousin Dave and his wife Kathy came up from Coeur D'Alene to visit so we took them to Quest for a tour. Then we went over to our friends Mark and Marissa's house for dinner and she met her first kitten. Today we had a family over from church for lunch and they have a daughter who has agreed to watch Ella for us! That is an answer to prayer and one thing I can cross off my list.

The Klynstra's had us over for yummy honey chicken on Tuesday night
IMG_0249

Ella's first visit to Quest (she slept through the whole thing)
IMG_0251

IMG_0253

She did a little work for dad in his office
IMG_0255

Here's Ella holding an 8 day old kitten
IMG_0258

My mom sent me some of my outfits from the 70's so she was sporting the fashionable yellow overalls on Saturday (the blanket was one my great-grandma made me)
IMG_1782

And since we were on the subject of the 70's I had to get a picture of her mullet
IMG_1786

She is all business in the front and party in the back
IMG_1788