Oma came to visit

Ella and Felix's Oma came to visit from Oct. 23rd to Nov. 6th and stayed at our house. We went to the Museum of Natural History (Ella wanted to see the dinosaur skeletons, but preferred to stay a discreet distance away from them, since they scared her) and the Getty Museum. Oma took Ella to her new preschool every day, a 30 minute walk roundtrip twice a day, so she got a lot of exercise.

It was great to have Dianne here, since she helped out quite a bit, especially cooking delicious meals for us picky vegetarians.

Here's a cool picture that Nicki took of Ella and her Oma at the kids' learning center at the Getty, drawing some masks inspired by the faces in James Ensor's "Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889":

Growing fast

Felix had his 2-wk check-up with Dr. Jena today; he is now 9lbs 9oz (4337 grams), so he has gained a full 2lbs 1oz since his last check-up which was 3 days after his birth.

Happy Halloween! Here is Ella in her new tights and shirt from her Oma, and Felix (10 days old) looking at his Mama.

More Felix Photos

Ella holding Felix, something she really loves to do.


Felix sleeping on the bed. Look how similar he looks to Ella when she was first born:



Finally, me holding Felix. He's just discovering his hands, so that's why he has the fussy expression.

Felix is here.

Felix Dashiell Vincent Dennis born October 17th, 2006; weighed 8 pounds 3 ounces (3517 grams) and was 21 1/2 inches (53 cm) in length.

He was born at our home and delivered by midwife Leslie Stewart, CNM, and in the water, after 3-4 hours of active labor.

Felix is healthy and happy, and is eating very well. Mom is doing well, too.

Nothing to report...yet

We're now in the middle of October and still no baby. Though, there's one thing to be sure of, he will be born in October, it's just a matter of when.

Nicki is being a real trooper, particularly while he waits to decide to come out. I wish I could be as relaxed as she is. I'm not, which is why I am getting pretty antsy about it.

Ella was born early and it caught us completely by surprise. Kids are always unpredictable, even when they have yet to breathe any air.

Here's a nice picture of our already-born child, with me at the Getty museum.

Ella is Three

The big day finally came, the day which Ella has been talking about and looking forward to for weeks - Ella's birthday. It has really been more of a birthday week, which started off with a combined birthday-farewell party at her daycare. In the morning, the kids helped make a cake, and in the afternoon, Sara gave a little speech where she explained that everybody grows up and now that Ella is a big girl, she is going to start going to school. All the kids helped decorate the cake and Ella got some presents, a photo album of her fun days with her friends there, and something else which is perfect for her and she absolutely loves: a bed for her babies. As soon as she got it home, all her babies first took turns in the bed then all went into it together. She rocks it and sings "Rock-A-Bye-Baby" to them.



On Saturday afternoon it was Ella's birthday party, complete with the requested Dora The Explorer cake, and pink and green balloons. 18 of her friends joined her at Gymboree and ran and played and jumped around until they were worn out.

Tuesday, on Ella's actual birthday, Ella opened her birthday presents in the morning and then shared cupcakes with her new friends at pre-school. Given the choice of where to have her birthday dinner, Ella naturally picked SUSHI.


Ella's latest - and heartwarming - turn of phrase is "Won't you...?" as in "Won't you read to me, Mama?"