Ella at 22 weeks

Ella is 22 weeks today. She is gaining more of a personality! For the first time today, she acted "fiesty" when I took something away from her to give her another toy. I took her little puzzle piece away as she grabbed it and tried to chew on it as I showed her the picture on it. She really likes to look at her puzzle pieces with different objects of the alphabet (a lovely gift from Aunt Dolly). She kicks her feet, waves her hands and starts to "pant" with excitement as we study them. She especially likes the picture/puzzle piece of the ball. She reached for the piece in my hand and since I didn't want her to chew on it, she cried when I took it away from her. She usually prefers things to chew on that aren't very condusive to chewing. Very ironic, I know :)
She is starting to reach at objects from a distance. Another new development this week. She is also grabbing her bottle and putting it in her mouth herself. She figured it out!
It was a busy week for me. Saturday was the first time I was actually away from both Mike and Ella for an extended period of time. I hosted my sister's bachlorette party Saturday night and it was fun meeting up with everyone. I had a great time but I missed Ella like crazy though.
Mike and I also went to see Norah Jones in concert this weekend at the beautiful Chicago Theater in Chicago. The tickets were an early birthday gift for my birthday. A complete surprise! The show was amazing (as always). We saw her there 3 years ago. While we were there, believe it or not we both missed El so much we looked at a little pic of her Mike had in his wallet while waiting for the show to begin. She is such a part of us that we miss her sorely when we are away from her! One of the songs Norah sang was Jesus, etc. Sometimes Mike mixes up the lyrics and sings that same song to Ella ("Ella, don't cry, you can rely on me honey"), so it was great to hear Norah sing it. The song is actually a Wilco cover. Sidenote: Wilco is one of our favorite bands!
Ella's Grandpa and Grandma Liss came to watch her while we attended the show. They had a delightful time with her.
I took Ella out for the first time this year in her stroller along the lakefront the other day (when it was nice out). We can't wait for more days like that! Welcome Spring!!