Tooth Number 2

We've spotted tooth number 2! It was preceeded by another challenging night of off-and-on sleep by all of us, so we suspected something was coming our way. Sunday morning we discovered the new tooth. It's a little hard to be able to see them since that requires Ella to hold still and not stick out her tongue or try to suck on our fingers. She's drooling and chewing on everything she can get her hands on. It's pretty cute and, most importantly, she seems to be feeling just fine.

A Tooth!

We've discovered Ella's first tooth! Two nights ago, Ella woke during the night and we just couldn't figure out why. I changed her diaper and Pete rocked her, but she wouldn't stop crying. He then checked her over to make sure nothing was wrong and had the ingenious idea of feeling her gums. Low and behold, we could feel a little something on the bottom. We eventually soothed her back to sleep. Yesterday that little bugger broke through her gums and can now be seen - if she will allow us to open her mouth, hold back her tongue, and not move for the two seconds it takes to catch a glimpse of it. This morning we can feel it a little more and I heard it scrape across one of her toys as she chewed mercilessly on it after breakfast today. We're thankful for the little frozen chew things that Grandma Olsen gave Ella at Christmas. She seems to find some relief in them. The only thing now is to decide if I should let her soak the front of her shirt today or put a bib on her. That girl produces an amazing amount of drool while teething.

Speaking of teeth...Ella has been exploring the world of food lately. We've discovered that she loves oatmeal, squash, sweet potatoes, and (the newest adventure) peaches. Maybe she just likes the color orange? She does not, however, like bananas. We'll try those again in a few weeks. In the meantime, we'll keep trying new flavors. Who knew this mama could have so much fun choosing her little girl's next food sampling?

New Year's Day

On New Year's Day we spent the evening at a Caribou Coffee shop chatting and playing. Here are a few fun pics we took.

Ella loved the stuffed bear

She's very good at helping Daddy on the computer

Great-Grandpa Johnson

A couple months ago, we had the opportunity to travel to Wadena to introduce Ella to her great-grandpa Johnson (Ang's grandpa on her mom's side). Since then we were able to make the trip a couple more times to celebrate both his 89th birthday and Christmas. On Saturday, January 9 we made the trip to Wadena to say goodbye. Great-Grandpa Johnson passed away this week but left many very happy memories.

Great-Grandpa Johnson was born in 1920, served in the Army during World War II, and spent many years traveling during the week for his job. Ang remembers his love of music, cars and gardening, his unending supply of jokes (particularly of Sven & Ole), and story after story of his time during the war. Grandpa began his career as a teacher in small country schools, which was a connecting point for us when we were chatting. He left many great memories, but we will certainly miss him a great deal.

My Grandpa was a pretty classy guy and a very snazzy dresser. You can see a great pics of him in his early years at the beginning of this video tribute (click to be connected to it). My favorites, of course, are with his motorcycles. That must be where my motorcycle roots originated. Thanks for that, Grandpa.

Until we meet again...

Ella hearing her first Grandpa J stories

Grandpa in his chair

A Christmas Dress

This is Ella's first Christmas dress! Shortly before Christmas, I put it on her so I could snap a few pictures to use with Christmas gifts. Isn't she a doll? I'll post more Christmas pictures very soon.

stolen from the tree

no worries, the wrapper was still on it

Mama's Pie

Mama loves to make her pie. It's true. I love to bake. Pie is my latest adventure. I started after we went to Apple Fest in Bayfield, Wisconsin and returned with bags of fresh, tart apples. I inherited an incredible, yet simple, recipe for crust and apple pie from my mom and have put a couple variations together in the last few months. For Thanksgiving I made apple-blackberry. The flavors together are delicious.

This little addition isn't an apple pie at all, however. This is a Christmas pie of pear and fresh cranberries. I made a few mini pies to give to friends. It's dangerous around this house to make a full, 9-inch pie when you know you have to taste a little to make sure it turned out okay. What do you do with the rest of the pie? Hence, I make little pies. They're super cute and far less tempting. I have to say, though, that Pete is a huge help in the kitchen when it comes to taste tests.

As for this particular pie, I probably won't do it again unless I can find a better pear. The texture just isn't as good as an apple. It was a good experiment!

All the Way from Taiwan

For Ella's dedication in November, she received a beautiful outfit from her godfather. He had just returned home from a trip to Taiwan and chose it specially for her. Isn't it beautiful?