Wait, January Is Almost Over?

All I can say is it's a good thing we don't rely on this site to put food on the table or pay the mortgage because we have neglected to post any updates for some time! Hmm, where to begin, there is literally so much to write about here.

First of all, I had the week "off". Read: "off" equals 5 days of forced buy due to economic downturn. No worries though because as soon as the announcement came out, I became excited to spend the time with Ellena. We kept her home, even though our Day Care contract requires us to pay for the time anyway - you just don't get this time back!

Secondly, we have successfully visited (or been visited by) a good majority of the Grandmas lately, in this order:

-Grandma Gigi flew to see us and stayed for 4 nights / 5 days. We just bummed around and drug her around to all our usual weekend chores (bulk-shopping at Costco, grocery shopping at Kroger, people-watching at the mall, etc.), but we had a great time together. I don't think she believed us when we said Ellena enjoyed going to the mall, but she experienced this first-hand as we walked her around and let her take in all the sights, lights and people. She enjoyed checking out the shiny objects in the stores and touching all the fabric.

- E and I surprised Grandma Lou Lou at work and hung out in the front offices until it was time for all three of us to eat. Ellena and I were then treated to lunch - yummy! E just loved playing with that toy on the desk, you know, one of those boards with those crazy all over wires and slides. We really need to get one of those for her!

- I drove E over to Grandma Mimi's, where we also saw cousin Lily and spent some time walking around the floor (see below)

Now for some of the Ellena updates....hmm....this is tough because she is doing SO many things lately. I guess one of the coolest things is she completely knows her name! If she is preoccupied, like crawling on the floor, and her name is spoken, she will actually pause and turn to look at you. I find this spectacular!

She is also pulling up on objects like the coffee table, ottoman & us if we're within reach! She stands a lot and really enjoys being walked around by her fingers. Let me see if I can find a video of this...(looking behind where I'm sitting)...I'll be right back...