Christmas in SA.

Christmas 2008 was all that we hoped for! Ella was as sweet as could be and loved all her new gifts. We started the morning at our own home with my parents. Ella woke up around 7am and after nursing, she went down to see all her new gifts from Santa. Her favorite part was chewing on the gift tags. After gifts, we had breakfast and Ella took a nice long nap.

At 11:30 it was time to head over to Granny and Grandpa's to open more presents and have lunch. Ella was right in the middle of everything crawling around and playing with her new things. At Granny's house she got 2 pair of shoes and some other really cool toys!

Towards the end of opening gifts, I put Ella in my lap with a pacifier and before I even realized it, she had completely passed out sitting up in my lap. So sweet.

After Granny and Grandpa's house we came home to play and wait for my sister's family to get to San Antonio. Here she is in her new Nike's....she looks like such a big girl in shoes.Once the Hefner's arrived we opened MORE gifts. Once again, Ella just played right in the middle of everything and kept herself completely content. She kept pulling the tags off of everyone's gifts and of course putting everything in her mouth.

More than anything, we felt so blessed this Christmas to have a beautiful daughter to celebrate with. We loved spending the days with all of our family and getting to be in our own home. We are so thankful for everything and can't wait to see the exciting things that 2009 will bring!

Ella’s Milestones in 2008!

• Waving at EVERYTHING! - 7 months 2.5 weeks
• Slept on tummy (3 hour nap) - 7 months 2 weeks
• Leaning in for kisses with mouth open - 7 months 2 weeks
• Moving from flat on tummy to sitting position - 7 months 1 week
• Crawling backwards - 7 months 1 week
• Saying "mmua, mmua, mmua" when she's hungry and/or ready for another bite of food - 7 months
• Sitting in big bath tub by herself - 7 months
• Pulling out her hair bows - 7 months
• Consistently sleeping 12-13 hours at night (6:30pm - 7:00am)with 2 naps during day - 6 months 3 weeks
• Started nursing 4 times a day – 6 months 3 weeks
• Pulling up on her knees - 6 months 3 weeks
• Finding pacifier by herself at night - 6 months 3 weeks
• Rocking to music - 6 months 2 weeks
• From sitting position, moving to all fours by herself! - 6 months 1 week
• Waving (very inconsistently, but this weekend we were out shopping and the employees were waving at her and she started moving her arm up and down in response. She did it for Michael and I several more times after!) - 6 months 1 week
• Saying "ba" and repeating after daddy "ba ba ba ba" - 6 months 1 week
• Rocking on hands and knees - 6 months
• Tried bananas - 6 months
• Moving from sitting position to stomach - 5 months 3 weeks
• Looking for toys after she drops them - 5 months 2 weeks
• Rolled over (back to stomach) - 5 months and 2.5 weeks
• Tried cereal - 5 months and 1.5 weeks
• Sucking on her toes - 4 months and 4 weeks
• Sitting up by herself - 4 months and 3 weeks
• Sat by herself (for real). – 4 months, 2 weeks, 4 days
• Started eating 5 times a day (every 4 hours) (Two 7-ounce bottles at daycare, nursed 3 times)– 4 ½ months (9/27/08)
• Sitting by herself in the boppy pillow – 4 months, 1 week
• Very interested in toys – 4 months
• Grabbing your toes – 18 weeks/4 months
• Grabbing anything in my hands – 18 weeks
• Laughing out loud when I laugh – 4 months
• Rasperries – 3.5 months
• Slept unswaddled ever since
• Put to sleep unswaddled – 15 weeks (8/29) (fell asleep in 5 minutes)
• After this you started sucking your thumb regularly. When I lay you down to sleep, you curl up on your side and suck your thumb. So cute!!
• Sucked her thumb – 14.5 weeks
• Got sick (cold) – 14.5 weeks
• Eating 5 ounces at daycare (3 bottles per day and then nursing 3 times a day) – 14 weeks
• Rolled over from tummy to back – 14 weeks (8/16 and 8/20)
• Moved up to size 2 diaper – 14 weeks
• first night to sleep in your own room – 13 weeks
• Started eating 6 times a day – 13 weeks
• Started day care – 12 weeks
• Rolled over tummy to back – 3 months
• First laughs – 3 months
• Sleeping 8 hours consistently – 8 weeks
• Slept 8.5 hours (I woke you up) – 6.5 weeks
• Slept 7 hours – 6.5 weeks
• Slept 6 hours – 5.5 weeks
• First smile – 4 weeks
• Used leg muscles to stand in my lap – 2 weeks (5/29/08)
• Started nursing only 5 min on each side – 2 weeks (5/28/08)
• First poopie at home – day 4
• Milk came in – day 4

"I'm hungry mommy!!"

Ella now eats solids twice a day...for breakfast and dinner. And now that she has the hang of it, she LOVES eating! Once I put her in her booster seat, I can't get dinner ready fast enough. She gets so excited and starts banging on her tray, kicking her little feet and saying "mmua, mmua, mmua". She started doing this a couple of days ago after she would take a bite and it sounded very much like "more, more, more". This morning she didn't nurse as much as usual so I expected her to be hungry before they left for daycare. (She eats solids as soon as she gets to daycare.) Sure enough as soon as her and I came downstairs after nursing, she started saying "mmua, mmua, mmua". She was also a little fussy and I'm sure it was because she was ready for her breakfast. I think she has developed her own way to tell me "I'm hungry mommy...time to eat!"

Curly Q

Tonight when Ella got out of the bathtub her hair was so cute and curly, I couldn't stop taking pictures. She had one adorable curl right down the center of her forehead. I love it! It gets pretty straight when I have to comb it out, but I just know it will be curly as it keeps growing!

Enjoy the pics of my little curly haired froggy! :)

I think she looks like my sister, Erin in this picture below...

7 months!

My little girl is 7 months old today. When she was first born and I envisioned a 7 month old, that seemed so BIG to me, but now, she still feels like my little bitty baby. I love her so much. It's so hard to narrow it down, but here are 7 things that I LOVE about her!

1. I love that she is now attached to a lovey. She has several that I rotate because she received so many at baby showers that I figured I would try to keep her from getting attached to just one in case we ever lose it and this way I can take one to daycare and leave it there. At night we have a ritual. Bath time, play time, and then I read to her. After 1-2 books I give her a paci and her lovey and she lays her head on my chest to cuddle with her lovey. It's so sweet. Then I lay her in bed and MOST of the time, she rolls right over and falls asleep, usually with the lovey over her eyes. That leads me to the next one....

2. I love that she is such a great sleeper. She now sleeps 12-13 hours at night with 2 naps during the day. At daycare her naps are pretty short, but at home she still takes 1 hour to 3 hour naps. It's great. And she has been sleeping through the night for a very long time. Lately she's been waking up every now and then, but she'll cry for a second and either go right back to sleep or I will go up to her room, hold her for a second and then lay her back down with her pacifier and she'll go back to sleep. No complaints here.

3. I love her little voice. She talks so much and says the sweetest things. She can say "da da da" and "a - di" and "ba ba ba" and "ma ma ma". We like to think she is saying "Addie" (her best friend's name) and of course dada and mama. :)

4. I love her belly laugh. She is so ticklish and we "get her" all the time. I love tickling her belly button in the bathtub and I love coming home from daycare and getting on the floor with her and tickling and laughing. It's the best part of my day.

5. I love watching her eat. She is getting so good, but still has a lot to learn and its so fun watching her try new foods, watching her spit it back out with her tongue, and watching her learn to swallow. It was so exciting the first time I saw her take a bite and swallow without pushing any back out with her tongue! It's so fun being here to help her learn all these skills that to us, seem so basic and thoughtless. So far she has liked everything that she has tried....cereal, bananas, squash, peas, pears, and sweet potatoes!

6. I have to admit, right now, I love it that she fusses when I leave the room. About a month ago, some separation anxiety starting setting in and she likes me to be in her site most of the time. She hasn't gotten too bad yet, but if she is the least bit tired or hungry, then she's most happy when her eyes are on me. Her and I certainly have a bond that can't be broken and I love the way she looks at me, the way she smiles at me, and absolutely everything about her!

7. I love her independence. Although we are noticing the separation anxiety, she is still very content playing on her own. She gets occupied with something and it will keep her busy for a while. She is so interested in new things, people, and places and I love her curiosity.

This has been the best 7 months of my life. Of course, we're already getting the question...."When are you having another one?" and the honest answer right now is "I have NO idea!" Ella is so wonderful and brings so much joy to our family that I certainly have not changed my mind about wanting 4 kids, but at the same time, we are just enjoying ELLA right now. Enjoying having just 1 baby and enjoying all of this 1 on 1 time with her. As any other first time mom will say, I can't imagine sharing my love and attention with anyone else. That's where I stand right now. We'll see what happens over the next months, years. All I know right now is that we are EXTREMELY blessed, we have SO much to be thankful for and I don't want to take ANY of it for granted!

......and I couldn't resist this last picture which shows how Ella looks at her Daddy! (another thing I love!)

Santa

Tonight Ella got to meet Santa for the first time ever and ask him for all of her Christmas wishes! As soon as I put her in his lap, she just cocked her head back and stared at his beard, his glasses, and everything else!

I think the only thing she was asking for was her bed! Santa didn't show up until her bedtime, so she was content but extremely sleepy. ...Sweet baby.

Crazy hair!

As many of you know, Ella's Hair has been a conversation item from the moment she was born. At less than 7 months old, we couldn't live without the detangler at night to comb through the tangles, the water spray bottles to comb it down in the mornings and the clips and hairbows to keep it out of her face. One of the best parts of getting her out of bed from a nap or in the morning after a long nights sleep, is getting to see her crazy bed head. This morning was no exception!

The picture below was another crazy hair picture that we took after her nap while in Corpus last week. We like to call her Elvis because of the way it sticks straight up in the middle.

Thanksgiving travels...

We spent our Thanksgiving holiday in Elgin, Austin, and Corpus Christi! So much fun we had and great family time! In Elgin, we enjoyed a huge Thanksgiving meal at my Uncle Jerry's certified organic feed mill and chicken farm. My immediate family was there, a few cousins, and at least 60 of my Uncle's friends. (You can buy his eggs at Whole Foods...check out his website here: http://www.coyotecreekfarm.org/ ).

Here we are as a family, supporting our Longhorns, of course!Here are some of the chickens, free to roam as they please.Ella enjoyed watching the chickens with Daddy...

Here we are with my Uncle with the feed mill behind us. It was a lot of fun to walk around and see his operation. The weather was beautiful and we all enjoyed a day outside!

Although Ella didn't get to enjoy a big Thanksgiving meal this year, she did get to try out peas and the pictures show her first impression.... She warmed up to the taste a little later.

After spending a couple of nights in Austin at my sister's house, the three of us headed to Corpus Christi to enjoy a few days on the beach. It was a small vacation, but it was much needed and a wonderful way to relax! This was Ella's first trip to the beach and luckily the weather was nice enough that we got to enjoy quite a bit of time outside. She even got to play in the sand! I'm short on time so here are a few pictures, in no particular order, of Ella's first trip to the beach! You can see she liked it!