The Party, the Quartet, and the Smiling

This last week we haven't done a whole lot that is eventful.  We did, however, go to our first party as a family, which was fun.  We got to see a bunch of people we haven't seen in a while and I even got to run around playing catch with frisbees and rugby balls.  It was a bring-your-own treat event so I got to try a bunch of tasty treats (unfortunately, most people didn't think to leave dairy out of their treats so Elissa only got to eat what we brought).  She and Ella hung out most of the time with some other moms (Ella was feeling clingy).

Another interesting thing is that a few of the men in our ward decided to set up a quartet piece, which they invited me to join in to perform.  We just did our first practice and it seems like it should be fun and sound good.  It's a paraphrasing of some of Nephi's writings, grieving over his weaknesses in following the Lord and pleading for grace to strengthen him, set to the tune of "Be Still My Soul" (called "I Love the Lord").  I'll let you know how it goes when we perform it (which may be after Christmas, so don't hold your breath).

Ella has started smiling more for me and Mommy lately.  She really likes to give us a big grin right after we just cleaned up a dirty diaper (which makes the dirty diaper infinitely less bad).  She's still fussy sometimes and doesn't always want to sleep, but it's nice to know life isn't all bad for this Ella, which means we must be doing an okay job.

Dairy Free

So, for the last few weeks I've been going dairy free for Ella, as you may know from Daniel's last post. I started trying to be positive -- thinking about things that I COULD eat. In fact, there are plenty of things I can eat without dairy, and even more if I get the fancy substitutes that have been made! Did you know they have dairy free margarine (unsalted Fleischmann's), cake mix (Duncan Hines) and chocolate chips (Ghirardelli semi sweet) along with the basic milk substitutes?

I am also grateful for the internet and all the bloggers out there who post about brands and recipes that are dairy free. It is much easier when you know what brand to look for so you don't spend an hour trying to find a margarine substitute or figure out a meal that doesn't take dairy and that isn't spaghetti!

Lots of Rain, but no Milk!

A week or so ago, we started seeing signs that Ella may be allergic to something Elissa was eating.  We crossed our fingers that it wouldn't be a food that's in everything and/or one of the ones that's likely to last through into adulthood.  Elissa started by going without peanut butter, and, at the advice of our pediatrician, milk.  We were told that we wouldn't know for sure until at least two weeks had passed.  If it worked, Ella would probably be a lot less fussy and sleep better.  Those seemed like good enough rewards to merit Elissa living a milk-free lifestyle.  We'll let Elissa tell you about the details of her living milk free, but I'll tell you one thing.  Apparently, as much as I like almond milk, I can't drink it or I 'get as fussy as Ella'.  So, I get regular milk while Elissa gets almond milk.  It works.

On another note, we have gotten a lot of rain lately.  This is our back yard from the other day.  That puddle is 3 inches deep!

Baby's First Shots

Ella's 2 month appointment was on Wednesday.  Elissa told me I had to take time off of work (because I offered) in case the experience was super-traumatic, as people have suggested it would be.  Ella seemed to be trying to charm us out of giving her shots that day, because she started to be really cute and happy as we got to the office.  It didn't work.

She got stuck 3 times and had an oral vaccine.  We're pretty sure that Ella thought the worst part was putting rubbing alcohol on her to sterilize the area.  All in all, her crying that day was pretty much like all her other crying, so we didn't feel too bad (not that we would regret helping her not get sick and die).

Ella wore a cute outfit to the event.

As a side note, I've started working on a modular origami project for Ella (I'm thinking we're going to turn this into a mobile somehow).  I thought I'd share some preliminary results.  From left to right these are: five intersecting tetrahedrons, an icosahedron, an icosidodecahedron, and a truncated icosahedron (with another one of a different style inside it).