Well what do you know, I have not posted to the family blog for almost an entire year. Yikes! But in the meantime, we’ve managed to accomplish a lot…including adding a new member of the family, Anna Claire. Anna is four months old now and doing everything right on schedule. I took her for a four month check-up yesterday. Besides the unpleasant immunization shots, Anna was a perfect angel. She offered plenty of coos and smiles for Dr. Niland and the nurse staff.
Anna’s stats on 1/15/09:
14 pounds (75th percentile)
26.25 inches long (97th percentile)
16.5 inches head circumference (75th percentile)
She’s a very healthy baby! The doctor says she is old enough to sleep through the night without feedings…but that would require me to let her cry it out. I’m not sure if I’m there yet. For now, I think I’ll focus on introducing cereal and getting her to roll over -it should happen any day now.
My cousin-in-law Brett (married to Katie Durigg) is becoming quite the portrait photographer. This is a particularly excellent picture of their dachsund Daisy I admire.
We’re rounding the bend towards Labor Day and it’s amazing to see how quickly the Summer passed by. We had a lot of fun over the past few months and we are continually surprised by the new things Ella does each day. Last night we took a walk at a local recreation area. Ella was so excited to get to the playground that she practically begged us to turn around and take the shortcut towards the swings and slides. It was only a brief time ago that we could even get her into a swing–let alone create any movement by pushing her. Yet, last night I had to literally pry her off the swing so we could finish our walk. As Brian and I took turns propelling her forward, Ella exclaimed “I’m happy Mommy!”
Ella is almost 2 years old and we are working on potty training. Last night we went to the store to buy some “princess” underwear and we also have “princess” pull ups. I hate to admit that Disney got to us but it seems to be a motivating factor for potty training so I can’t complain too much. Ella seem so to vacillate between wanting to potty (she will loudly exclaim, “it’s my potty training!”), but then she also refuses to go to the potty at other times.
The most amazing element of Ella’s development has definitely been her language acquisition. As is the case with most little girls, her verbal skills are excellent. Some of Ella’s fun statements:
“Couch down” aka I want to lay on the couch
“This is my Mommy” or “This is my Daddy”
“Want some?”
“This is really nice”
“Shoes on”
“Perry, no”
“Inside, Perry”
“Mommy, I’m stinky” or “Whew, I stink!”
“Baby Ben” (the little boy that Mom is watching now)
“Baby Moses” (a play doll that goes into a wicker basket)
“Ella’s bike”
“Charlotte and Bean” (she hears other people call us by our names)
“Hi, Grama/Papa Sturtz or Wade” (she pretends to call them on her play phone)
Maybe it’s because I just completed my performance review at work. Maybe I’m especially reflective as I fully embrace my 30’s. Maybe I’m just bored. Anyhow, over the weekend I took the StrengthsFinder personality test.
Who needs another personality quiz, right? Well this one is pretty cool. This is the 2nd version of this particular personality quiz/analyzer from the Gallup organization. I really like this one because it is focused on all the things you do really well and it offers specific ways to nurture your strengths in your life rather then telling you to change to fit another person’s idea of who you should be.
You have to buy the book to do the test. It is $20 at Barnes and Noble, $12 at Amazon. Or you could get the book at your library. Anyhow, Brian and I both did the test over the weekend. Maybe it just hit me at the right time but I just found it really powerful in helping me more explicitly define what opportunities I will ask for at work.
Here are two interesting links about Steven Curtis Chapman and the loss of his adopted daughter. It is very moving to listen to Chapman talk about the decision to adopt his little girl.
I love making little video slide shows but sometimes they can take so long to actually create. Well here is a fun little way to get the same (or better) results in a fraction of the time. I think this is a great way for the average slide show lover to be able to share more photos with family and friends!
The service automatically integrates with other photo sharing site like Flickr. So I just logged into my Flickr account and grabbed a few random photos, picked out some music, decided which images I wanted to feature and Voila!
As I’ve matured, I’ve grown to truly appreciate Billy Graham as a great man of faith and also as one of the most engaging speakers of the last 50 years. This is a great presentation given by Graham in 1998. He delivered this message at a Ted conference. Very inspiring.
I’ve been busy. And you’ve been neglected. I’m sorry I haven’t taken a few spare moments to share with you the happenings of my exciting suburban life, but, like I said, I’ve been busy. It’s the middle of June and there’s yard work to be done and dogs to be walked. Don’t be jealous. I haven’t been doing any of those things either.
Nevertheless, I can’t complain. Ella is growing like a weed and acquiring new words daily. Her recent favorite expressions include: “Where’s my daddy”, “I want mommy”, “Let’s eat”, “Let’s go”, “No!” (of course), “I want down”, and “I stink” (ha!).
Ella is pushing the limits of discipline and it makes me feel proud. She’s an independant thinker who is trying to figure things out. It can be tough to deal with at times, but I know it will serve her well in life. I told Brian that you’d think that after a while you’d stop being amazed (and amused) but I’m continue to be in awe of how much I love Ella. I learn from watching her learn and grow.
Brian is continuing his job search and is busier than ever. It seems like he meets with at least 2 -3 people everyday and certainly does not lack for things to do. He’s been doing a lot of handyman jobs around the house too. He spruced up the front of the house with new paint color on the front door and we added new matching shutters. Brian also installed new hardware, a front knocker and a flag pole.
We had our community garage sale at the end of May. We spent two days trying to convince bargain hunters to buy our junk. It worked! Although we still donated a lot to the Kidney Foundation, it was worthwhile and it gave us a chance to visit with our neighbors. In preparation, we cleaned out the house and reorganized a few things. At my insistence we moved two of our large living room chairs into other areas of the house. It definitely made a difference. The space is more open and there is more light coming into the room.
I’m heading into my 8th week of graduate classes. I’m taking online classes through Franklin University’s VantageMBA program. Don’t let anyone tell you that online classes are easier! They’re not. But they are a lot more flexible. Basically I’ve been spending late nights, early mornings, and sometimes Sunday afternoons working on class assignments. Getting back into “school mode” was tough but it is starting to feel a little bit easier. Right now I’m taking a class about human resources. Compared to many of my undergraduate classes, what I’m learning is very applicable to my job on a daily basis. I’ve already been able to put it into practice.
From Brian - “This is my favorite new photo of Ella with my Nikon D80. I have recently taken the camera off Auto and starting experimenting with ISO, aperature, and White Balance. Her reaction on her face in this one are so genuine.”
Well despite my best intentions to keep the blog updated more regularly, it’s almost the end of Feburary and we still have our Christmas card message on the site. But we have good reason for not getting to regular updates–we’ve been really busy!
We were able to attend Caidryn’s b-day party in January. We saw Laura and Jeff quite a bit when they visited a few weeks. In addition to getting a family photo and meeting Jeff’s parents for dinner, we also hosted a bridal shower/family celebration for Jeff and Laura’s upcoming wedding.
In between all that, we all suffered through a bit of illness. Ella had a cold which migrated into an ear infection. Just as she recovered from that, we got a nice helping of the stomach flu. But everyone is now healthy and doing well.
Brian has had an exciting time. He had several job interviews recently and finally landed a new position as an Account Supervisor at Young Isaac. He’s pretty excited about the opportunity to work with clients beyond the world of pharmaceuticals.
I’ve been busy at work supporting lead generation inititatives for OCLC. Of the most recent services, WorldCat Local, is completing pilot testing and is now available for purchase.
We’ve done our best to try and shake off the Winter blahs by doing a little bit of sprucing up around the house (just a little bit). I hung new lights in two of the bathrooms. I still have to hang a new light in my bathroom but I’ve decided I need to paint it first. I’ve given up on doing the drywalling in the basement, so we’ll have to hire someone to tackle that task.
Brian has been busy learning how to use his new-to-him digital SLR camera. He is going to take a class at Cord Camera to learn how to get the most out of his new “investment”. I was a little hesitant about the cost but Brian found a good deal on a used camera. And he promises that he is “documenting Ella’s life”.
Okay, so that’s what we’ve been up to! Drop us a line and let us know what’s been happening with you. Also, if you want to get blog updates by email, sign up here.
Although it was a sad day due to her passing 2 weeks ago, this photo in particular of Grama Aufdencamp’s Great-Grandchildren was a nice moment that speaks to what she valued the most.
Grandma Donna Wade’s favorite part of the picture is Tre’ and Delaney holding hands!
Ella is in the front with the four “littlest ones.”
Ella had a great time at her first birthday party on Saturday November 12th. Both Grandpa’s and Grandma’s (Wade and Sturtz), along with the Foley’s, Pohlmann’s, and Leonberger’s were there to celebrate.
She had an Elmo cupcake, Elmo balloon, and Elmos t-shirt. Presents included a musical push toy, a singing goat puppet, a talking digital phone, a baby picnic table, and some nice new 18 month shirts.
Ella enjoyed her first Halloween tonight. She and Daddy handed out candy to the neighborhood kids from 6-8pm and we had a fire with cedar logs in the firepit on the driveway. She also tasted her first candy, a blue sour twizzler!
Check out the Flickr site for more of tonight’s photos.
I took the day off today to spend some time with my little girl.
This picture was from August 29, but it captures something that I’m sure every parent feels. I love this little creature more than I ever imagined and the same way I always knew I would.
She’s an amazing copy of Charlotte and I with a little twist in ways that surprise me every day. My life and all the decisions that led to her creation were the right ones.
The thing that amazes me the most is the “Daddy look” she gives me. I was always afraid that I would be “some guy that’s around a lot.” It’s wonderful to be much more than that…now I just have to keep living up to my own expectations for this big little relationship.
I’m sure everyone says something like that, but this is MY little girl.
This is an especially beautiful picture Charlotte took on September 2, 2007. I stumbled across it while looking through the images we’ve taken and wanted to share!
Ella saw the fish, Tigers, Lions, Elephants, Rhinocerous, Red Panda, and a little asian bear today at the zoo for the first time. It was 93 degrees but really fun.
