Ben Zo...

This guy must live somewhere around us. It's the second time we've seen him on the road.

 

bumps!

 

Teething?

yea, yea, we've been saying "maybe she's teething" for five months now, but there's definitely a bump now on her lower gum!

Ella and saba Oddi in the car

Ella's food

here's a list of Ella's foods. the number next to each item is its score on a scale of 1 to 5.

fruits and vegetables (mashed):
* bananas 5
* prunes 5
* plums 4
* mango 4
* sweet potatoes 2
* potatoes 2
* butternut squash 2
* pears 3
* apricots 4
* peaches 4
* applesauce 3
* carrots (but may be causing constipation?) 2
* peas 2

other:

* mashed chicken/beef/turkey (gerber jar) -1
* rice cereal/oatmeal 2
* whole-wheat crackers 5
* rice cakes 1
* MultiGrain cheerios 5
* various Gerber veggie puffs (star shaped) 5
* "crunchies" (whole grain puffed corn) 5
* "wagon wheels" (puffed grains) 5

* ice cream 8

Short Coffy update

I'm blogging so hard for Coffy that i forget to update here.
Coffy and his parents are at the Dominican republic. we got some bad news on Sunday: his mother isn't doing well, she is very ill. Now Coffy is trying to find medical help for her, and possibly find a way to bring them back home with him as a last resort. Yakini has asked our help in wording an appeal to the governor or senator to help them grant Coffy's parents temporary visas to fly them to Chicago. She's also looking for doctors who will treat Coffy's mom 'pro bono'.

look at this video that i just uploaded. it's pretty crazy. coffy is so positive, so optimistic. you gotta love this person.

There's so much to this story... it's overwhelming. i stay up at night (like now) and think about it. i hope that everything comes to a happy ending.

I am also having a warm fuzzy feeling inside, because of all the support and donations that Yakini tells me that she gets from our side. from our friends. the other day she said "we even got a donation from Germany!"... and I know who that is!
i'm flabbergasted by the response and the generosity of our friends, family and acquaintances who reached out and reached DEEP. i just want to hug so many people.

Happy birthday Ben!

We love you