A New Era!

Today is Ella's 5 month birthday! We took her to the doctor for her shots - she is now 15lbs 12 oz, and 25" long - she is growing like a weed! Must be all that good momma's milk she gets. Anyway, the big news is that now that she is 5 months old...get ready for it...she gets to eat real food! No, we are not ordering her first pizza tonight - by food, I mean she gets some rice cereal mixed with milk twice a day and fruit three times a day. It adds a whole new dimension to mealtimes. Below I have attached some photos of Ella's First Solid Meal.

Ready!

Looks...splendid. Delightful even. NOT.

The first spoon...

...in!

Yum!

"So THIS is what the fuss is all about???"

"Food RULES!"

Merry Christmas!!!

Best.

Movie.


EVER.


Yet another candidate for cutest hat ever.


Cousin Lauren came to visit yesterday!


Smiling with Auntie Melissa! FINALLY!

"Bonding" with Grandpa.

Grandpa Marty, Grandma Karen and the little "G."


Ornament courtesy of Grandma Karen!



My christmas outfit - Ralphie t-shirt, Santa boxers, Jingle Bell socks (complete with actual Jingley Bells!)


Smiling with crazy Daddy!


Smiling with pretty Mommy!


Opening presents - she liked the paper best.


Yayyyyyyyy!

YAYYYYYYYYYYY!


YIPPEEEEEEE!!!

Best. Present. EVER.

Best Christmas Ever...with my REAL best gift ever.

OK, there you have a bunch of stills....now for some video!!!


Here's a vid before the gifts were opened.


Opening gifts.


Wallowing in wrapping paper!


The End!

Ella's First Class Photo!

Grandma's

Ella's 2 grandmas came to see her today, 1 from a mile away and the other from 3500 miles across the Atlantic. Here's some photos:

Grandma Karen, Carol, Grandma Sheila...and Ella (looking thrilled as always!)

Chillin.

The new cutest hat EVER.

"Gimme that camera!! I hate the paparazzi!"

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Today was a very nice, fulfilling day! Let me elaborate...

First, I was startled awake by the sound of what sounded like a cat having a seizure at 6am. I jolted out of bed and ran around the house to see which of my cats were dying, and luckily it was neither. I guess it was some outdoor cats fighting or something. At that point I could not fall back to sleep, because I was all pumped for my latest stupid activity - the 4-mile "Fly With The Owls" run in Lynbrook, NY. I ate my Clif Builder Bar with fervor, and got ready. We packed Ella into 200 layers of clothing, then into the car seat, covered with blankets and into the car. We then picked up Kim and headed over. We met up with Mike and his wife Susan there, got our numbers and t-shirts, and got ready to roll. I finished in 36:30, which was better than the 37 minutes I was hoping for, and considering it took us about 15 seconds to even get to the starting line due to the number of people running, I was quite pleased with these results. Since Ella decided she needed to eat just as I was finishing, we unfortunately do not have a finish-photo, but here's one of Mike, myself and Kim. Oh, and the obligatory one of me and Ella:



When we got home, I quickly hopped in the shower and we headed out to Mt Sinai to visit my college friend Rob, his wife Gina and their little girl Alexa. The incredible Chef Gina cooked an outrageously delicious meal of salad, homemade calzones and linguini with clam sauce, finished off by homemade cookies (and store bought brownies and fruit provided by us...didn't come close to comparing with the home-cooked stuff!). Holy crap, were we full! Ella met her new friend Alexa, and they had a great time together. We just arrived home, and gave Ella her bath, and she is now off to bed. I shall soon follow. Here's a pic of Ella and Alexa:


Next up - Snowflake run in February?? I don't think even I am that crazy....or am I?

Christmas is coming!!!

Yes, I know I am a Jew, and what business do I have looking forward to Christmas? Well...The main reason is the pretty tree with the twinkling lights, exchanging of gifts...and THE RALPHIE MARATHON. That is the pinnacle of my entire year - wearing my Ralphie T-shirt and watching as many showings of "A Christmas Story" as Angela will allow. My record is 7 and a half (They show it 12 times over the course of 24 hours). I aim to break the record every year...I haven't been successful since I have been living with Angela. Because she HATES the movie...simply because I am obsessed with it. Some guy bought the house that the movie was filmed in and renovated it to look like the house in the film, and it is now a museum dedicated to the movie. It is in Cleveland. Someday, I will pack up Ella and take her there on a pilgrimage to the promised land of Ralphiedom. It shall be a wonderful day. Just the thought of it brings a tear to my eye and a sniffle to my sinuses. In honor of Christmas....here's some pictures.

The family in front of the tree. *NOTE - Check out my kick-ass shirt! And the Jew Bear next to my head - Represent!*

Cutest picture ever.

Me at Ella's age (4 months old)

Mental Problem

Yes, I seem to have developed a mental issue - I just signed up, again at Kim's urging, for another run this weekend - this time only 4 miles, but it is going to be COLD out. I should commit myself to some sort of program I think.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble Gobble!

Haven't written in a while, so I will give a few quick updates on this past weekend:

1) Friday night, Lenny, Jared and I went into the city to meet my friend from vet school Charlotte and her friends Claire and Ane. We ate at a BBQ Restaurant/Bar and then went to a couple of bars/pubs in the meatpacking district. A good time was had by all, was really great seeing Charlotte again - it had been over 3 years!

2) Saturday I had to work, but Angela's dad (Alan) and his wife (Arlene) came to visit along with her aunt (Mavis) and uncle (Terry). Ella got to meet and greet everyone and had a lovely time! I only got to see them for an hour before they left, but it was very nice to see them!

3) Today was the Long Beach 10K Turkey Trot that my old high school friend Kim talked me into signing up for. It was FREEZING out, especially along the boardwalk, and while we waited to start the race, I felt like I was going to die. It was SO COLD. But once we started, I felt fine. I was happy with how the race went, although I didn't reach my goal of finishing in under an hour, I got pretty close (which isn't bad for a first time!) with a time of 1:00:54. I felt astonishingly fine after I finished, better than I had felt after either of my previous 5k runs, so I guess I must be getting better at this running thing than I had thought. However, once I got home, my nose started running and the congestion set in, so the cold that I thought I was kicking has come back to kick me a bit. I'll live...and here's some pics!

Ella in a cute little baseball cap.

(Left-Right) Uncle Terry, Aunt Mavis, Ella, Arlene and Alan.

Me posing like an idiot pre-race (Angela told me to do it, I swear!).

Coming towards the finish...

At the finish!

Back home with Ella!

The Best Medicine

After Ella's diaper was changed earlier today, I accidentally discovered a spot on her chest which caused her to squeal with laughter like never before. Angela was astute enough to grab the video camera and capture the moment...which is now on YouTube for your viewing pleasure! Please pardon my cheesy grin and baby-talk - I was just thrilled to hear my little girl cracking up as if she just saw the Borat movie!

Ella's First Flight

Saturday we took Ella on her first ever flight to Florida to see Nanny and Poppy. She did SO well for the entire trip - so much so that I really don't have much to write about! The day after we arrived, Nanny and Poppy hosted a small get-together for all of their friends to meet Ella. Our friends Carl and Rachel came along as well. It was very nice. Last night, Carl, Rach, Angela and I went to dinner at a haunted pub (which was shipped over from London, UK!) called the Blue Anchor - had some real british fare...but, sadly, no ghosts appeared. Even though it was Halloween. LAME. But the food was good. Anyway, Ella was extremely pleasant for the entire journey to FLA, the whole time we were there, and the trip home as well...a few hours after arriving home, she had a screaming fit that we couldn't stop, however, so we gave her some Tylenol (thinking that maybe she had a headache or an earache from the flight), and she seemed to settle down. She is now fast asleep, so I figured I would post some photos! Here ya go:

Ella, Nanny and Poppy

All of us!

Look at this - already drinking from a cup!! (Not really - it was empty)

Photo taken during one of her now infamous rants.

Ella's first piggie-back-shoulder-ride thingy

Yes, she is.

Best Onesie EVER. She is SO a monkey.

My lovely ladies!

Yeah, baby, YEAH!