little miss sunshine

Ella's onesie today was very fitting for her personality! Pigtails and all, she is such a happy girl and SO MUCH FUN to be around. I just can't get enough!!!
Hmmm...which paci do I want???She certainly doesn't make it easy to change her diaper these days! Where's the onesie that says "little miss stinker"?

Pigtails and Playtime!

Weekends...

Weekends used to be all about getting things done. I always had a long "to do" list and the weekend would be my chance to run around, do things at the house, etc. etc. Well, I still have the long "to do" list, but the weekends are no longer my time to take care of errands. My weekends are my time with Ella! And we certainly take advantage of that time to the full extent! The weekends come and go, and Mondays are always hard, but at least I can look back at every weekend with memories and fun times with my daughter! She is growing fast and experiencing new things several times a day.

This weekend we adjusted her schedule a bit to go along with her growth and changing needs. She now eats lunch, so she has solids three times a day. I also added meat to her dinner menu. I have been a little nervous about meats since I'm making all of her baby food, but we started with chicken this weekend and it wasn't so bad. I just boiled it, pureed it, added a little water, pureed it some more, and we were done! I kept telling myself that it would be SO much better than the jarred meat! Ella loved it, just like she loves all other food! The texture was definitely different but she didn't seem to mind.

Right after eating chicken for the first time.....

And after eating all her dinner...chicken, sweet potatoes, and applesauce.

This weekend we played alot with Ella's new stroller/walker and for the first time she took a couple of steps with it! She's still figuring out how to move her legs, but she's learning and doing great. She also learned how to sit down from this standing position. Here she is letting go with her first hand....

And this is her transition position.....and then she plops on her bottom. :)

And look what a difference clothes make. Here is my BABY:

And here is my BIG GIRL:

These pictures were both taken today and it makes me in no hurry to dress her in big girl clothes! Even though she looks adorable, it's hard for me to believe she is getting so big!

Ella sleeps on her belly now every single night. I lay her down on her back and sometimes she'll still fall asleep on her back or side, but she always end up on her tummy, as of this week anyway. Tonight I noticed on the monitor that her booty was up in the air so I had to sneek in her room for a picture. I've always thought it was so adorable when babies sleep like this! Now I have my own little adorable baby.

good night, sleep tight!

8 months.

Ella Pearl! 8 months came and went! We've had a busy month and are happy to be settling down now. You've been sick a lot but and we're hoping that is in the past and that you will remain healthy! You are constantly on the go! It's hard for me to get your picture on this chair if I'm by myself because you are always trying to crawl right off.

3 days before turning 8 months, you figured out how to crawl. You still don't venture too far...mainly just crawling from toy to toy but soon you'll be taking off all over the house. You're not quite pulling up to your feet, but you get up to your knees very easily and then reach and reach. You love to play on your bookshelf and try to pull up to reach all your books on the 2nd shelf.

You also learned how to clap this month! It's so cute to see you clap for yourself when you do every little thing. And you are waving like crazy! All the time and at everything! You wave when we walk by the front door, when we walk into a new room, or leave a room, when you see us in the mirror, when we are packing up to leave the house, when you see someone enter the room, etc. etc.

And just recently, you are started noticing things above you and looking up....

Bathtime is still a favorite and you love to stand on the side of the bathtub while the water is running. You look at all your water toys and just can't wait to get in and play! You are doing a great job standing! You can hold on to something and stand forever. You got a couple of walkers for Christmas and you love to stand with them, but you haven't figured out that you can move your legs. So you just stand there and balance and if it moves too far away, we are there to catch you or you just let go and fall to your bottom. You actually can stand for a second before falling when you let go.

You are eating solids twice a day (breakfast and dinner), nursing 4 times a day, napping twice a day...you stay on a great schedule and are still a great sleeper! You are still nursing 100% and to this day have never even tasted formula! I'm also making all of your baby food, and have had fun doing so. The only thing you won't eat is avocado! You love everything else and will eat all your vegetables and fruits, but after getting a taste of avocado you won't open your mouth again until there is something different on the spoon! Right now, vegetables seem to be your favorite. Especially peas, sweet potatoes, and squash. You like fruit too, but sometimes it seems maybe a bit sour for you, or something. You make silly faces but eat it anyway.

This has been another wonderful month! I love you!!

8 months!?!

Happy 8-month birthday Ella!

You woke up this morning with throw up matted in your hair and on the side of your face.... poor baby :( So your morning started off with a bath and me deciding to stay home with you. Otherwise you've been your happy self and we've had a pretty good day! This is how you looked this morning with your messy face and crazy hair!

You're sleeping now so I better get some work done and will post more later!

going forwards...

At almost 8 months, Ella started crawling today!

A happy reunion.

After being gone for almost a full week, Michael finally got home last night and someone was certainly glad to see him!!! The feeling was SO mutual!

going backwards...

Ella is SO close to crawling, but in the meantime, she has learned how to get around going backwards! She is now extremely mobile and is getting into everything. When put on the floor she immediately gets into a crawling position, and if she can't reach her toy, she rocks vigorously, and then ends up on her belly to stretch farther. Once she reaches her toy, she pulls it up with her as she gets back into a sitting position. She does this a million times and ends up all over the floor. It's hilarious to watch and listen to her as she does this.

And its so funny to watch her crawl backwards. She often gets mad since her toy only gets farther away, but she manages to get back around to it eventually. However, since she can only go backwards, she often gets stuck in uncomfortable situations....here she is, mad because she is stuck under our living room couch....

and underneath the guest bed in our office....

and backed into a corner in Mimi & Papa's kitchen...

But with all of this moving around, she found a new toy today...

And here is a cute video I got of her scooting backwards when Megan & Addie came to visit...

She is such a cutie and I love her so much!!

In the country...

After Christmas, Ella and I headed to my parents house for a few days while Michael went skiing in Aspen, CO. We're here now and are enjoying the peacefulness of the country. It's so relaxing and easy to be lazy. It's a nice break from the busy-ness of our regular days. Right after Christmas, Ella was diagnosed with RSV and an ear infection! It has been horrible for her, but today she finally seemed to be feeling much better! Luckily I had already planned to be home with her this week and have been able to give her lots of extra love!

My sister was also at my parents house for the first couple of days...here are a couple of pictures of Ella with two of her cousins, Bailey & Hutson.

Here she is on her Mimi's baby blanket! Mimi gave it to her this weekend, and we are so honored to have something so special.

Swinging outside....making silly faces.

Sleeping on mimi....

All bundled up to play outside in the cold. (Just long enough to get a couple of cute pictures!)

Tonight Ella got to eat black-eyed peas for good luck in the new year. To my surprise, she LOVED them! I hope that means she'll have lots of good luck in 2009!